Councillors have approved plans for a new drive-through Costa coffee shop and Lidl supermarket in Dundee, despite being urged to turn down the proposal.

The £7 million development, which also includes a restaurant, car showroom, pub and industrial units, will be created on the site of the former ABB factory at Kingsway East.

The application from Lidl and I&H Brown was recommended for refusal by council planners on the basis that it contravenes several local development policies and could have an impact on shops elsewhere in the city.

However the project squeezed through during a vote by councillors on the development management committee by 11 votes to 9.

David Durie, a senior consultant with Lidl, said the development would create more than 170 jobs, including 40 at the supermarket, but admitted proposals for Costa Coffee to operate the drive-through unit were not “concrete”.

Dundee City Council’s executive director of city development, Mike Galloway, warned that approving the application for a site reserved for industrial use could miss out on an even greater number of jobs in the future.

He added that approving the application in principle would not guarantee who operates the super-market or any of the other businesses proposed.

Mr Galloway told The Courier: “Since the former ABB works went we have not had any formal proposals coming forward but we’ve always recognised it as being a very well-placed site, on a trunk road and close to the port.

“Certainly when marketing opportunities at the port, in either offshore wind or decommissioning, we have always been aware we have this industrial site close by.”