Days could be numbered for Iceland in Morden after rival company Lidl was given the green light to expand its town centre store.

Earlier this year Lidl served notice to evict the Met Police Safer Neighbourhood office in Aberconway Road (of which the supermarket owns the site) in order to "serve the larger sales area and the foodstore as a whole."

During the consultation period a number of objections to the proposal were received, including one on behalf of Iceland which also operates out of the shopping centre.

It said that if the plans were approved, the "well-established retailer" could soon be on its way out.

"The store currently employs approximately 20 people in a range of roles from till operator to store manager," it read.

"The application proposal would extinguish the Iceland store and result in the loss of a major retailer from the designated centre.

"Iceland wish to remain in their current location and as such, object in the strongest possible terms to this planning application."

It went on to say that for Morden to lose Iceland would have a "negative impact" on choices for shopping and that the store was a "key contributor to the vitality and viability" of the area.

But Lidl disagreed.

"The additional sales floorspace proposed will not compromise the position of the Morden district centre in the borough’s retail hierarchy and is of a scale that is wholly appropriate for the centre," it wrote in the application.

"Indeed, the additional sales floorspace will actually strengthen the convenience retail offer available within the centre, thus widening consumer choice and enhancing its vitality and viability."

It would seem that Merton Council's planning department agreed as the plans were approved earlier this month.