CAMPAIGNERS are calling for better protection for small shops faced with supermarkets opening local stores on the high street.

The group "Say no to Tesco" wants a change in the law to allow councils to use the planning system to prevent supermarkets opening smaller stores where there are independent traders.

They held a demonstration outside Holyrood yesterday as the Petitions Committee met to discuss their calls for councils to be given greater powers.

Petition organiser Ellie ­Harrison highlighted stores in Byres Road, Great Western Road and Queen Margaret Drive in Glasgow's west end, where several new supermarkets had opened.

Ms Harrison, a university lecturer, said: "Our petition is to address a new problem emerging in the last few years, which is the proliferation of small express stores.

"The big supermarket giants are well aware of the strong opposition to their expansion. They are allowed to skirt around legislation by not needing a retail impact assessment or planning permission."

The plight facing many small retailers was illustrated by ­Edinburgh shop-owner Mohammed Hanif, who said yesterday he is being forced to close his corner shop which has been serving customers for more than 70 years.

News Corner in Edinburgh's Howe Street has been in operation since 1941, but revenue plummeted after a Sainsbury's Local opened nearby two years ago.

Mr Hanif, 54, who has run the store for 19 years, said: "When I took over the shop, business was booming. My turnover was £8000 per week.

"Since the Sainsbury's store opened, I have lost £5500 per week.

"I have been struggling to pay my bills since Sainsbury's opened. Corner shops are going to disappear completely in Scotland over the next five or 10 years.

"The Scottish Government should be protecting small shops and not allowing stores like Sainsbury's to come into the high street. It affects all types of businesses."

He added: "We have built up a relationship with our customers over the past 19 years. You don't get that in Sainsbury's or Tesco. It is a big loss to the community."

Gordon Henderson, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said that many communities lose out when big retailers move in.

He said: "This is the kind of small independent retailer that is vital to the economy and to the city, to provide something different.

"All the supermarkets are moving away from big boxes on the edge of town to convenience stores in our high streets and the local community feel of the small retailers gets lost."

However, MSPs on the Petitions Committee challenged the views that local supermarket stores were bad for the high street.

Jackson Carlaw, West of ­Scotland Conservative MSP, said the difference between now and 40 years ago was in the names.

"In the 1960s most high streets had a Templetons, Galbraiths and a Co-op. Have we not just gone full circle but now they are called Tesco and Sainsbury's?"

A Sainsbury's spokeswoman yesterday defended the opening of Local branches in Edinburgh. She said: "Our stores help to draw customers to local shopping centres and they offer good jobs for local people."