A POLITICIAN has called on a national retail chain to answer rumours that it is about to close Durham's only major city centre supermarket.

Doubts have been raised over the long-term future of the Safeway store in the Milburngate Shopping Centre, after the £3bn acquisition of the company by Morrisons in a protracted take-over battle earlier this year.

Following the completion of the deal in March, Morrisons was ordered by the Competition Commission to off-load 52 of its stores around the country.

In May, the company announced the sale of six North-East stores, including its branches in Darlington and Team Valley, to rival Sainsburys.

Last month, Asda agreed to buy several stores in the North-East and earlier this week Morrisons announced it was selling two further stores on Teesside to Tesco.

However, Morrisons still needs to sell around a dozen outlets to comply with the terms of the Competition Commission order.

The company is reported to be considering closure of those stores that it cannot sell.

Roberta Blackman-Woods is Labour's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Durham City.

She has written to the chief executive of Safeway to seek clarification following reports that the Milburngate store has been earmarked for potential closure.

This would leave the city centre without a food supermarket, other than the small food hall at Marks and Spencer in Silver Street and a branch of Iceland in North Road.

However, Ms Blackman-Woods said the future of the store was vital to the city centre, not only in terms of jobs but also for ease of access for people unable to reach the big out of town retail centres, such as the Arnison Centre.

She said: "The Safeway store is the only supermarket in the city centre.

"It provides a valuable resource for residents and employees working in the city and is particularly used by the large number of students in Durham.

"If this store is closed, it will be a devastating blow for residents of the city and those who are already disadvantaged by not having the means or the ability to get to one of the out-of-town shopping centres."

A spokesman for Morrisons said the company was unable to make any comment.