food retailer Waitrose has been criticised by local traders for failing to contribute towards a town centre development plan.
The firm will open its seventh Scottish store in Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire, late next year after getting the go-ahead for an outlet at the home of a historic rugby club.
But the company's plans have been met with much resistance by local businesses, which have claimed they will be adversely affected by the store.
The Milngavie Business Improvement District steering group said it had hoped "to find a positive way forward to work with the company" but has condemned it for failing to make "an extremely modest financial gesture" to improve the local trading environment.
However, Waitrose said that as it did not have a marketing fund until it opened its doors it was unable to contribute until then, adding that the store also falls outside of the geographically defined Business Improvement District (BID) area.
A spokeswoman for the firm said there were also concerns expressed by a handful of town centre businesses in Helensburgh about the impact of the new store that opened last month, but that there were already positive spin-offs.
She also said Waitrose "will work closely with the town centre traders at the appropriate time", claiming it is preparing a leaflet to promote the town centre businesses and services, coordinated by the Chamber Of Commerce, which it is designing and printing and distributing.
But Ian Lavrie, the BID steering group chairman, said: "Like it or not, we all know Waitrose is coming to the area and we had hoped to find a positive way forward to work with the company. In July we told its representative in Scotland we would be finalising our Business Plan for the town centre in November and required confirmation of their support by that time.
"We are now told by their spokesman Martin Gorman that no gesture of financial commitment can be made until the store is open in late 2014. Does it not have a business plan and detailed projections into which an extremely modest financial gesture could have been incorporated? Apparently not."
Callum Christie, owner of Frontier Holidays in the town centre, added: "We would have liked to have spoken to Waitrose about dedicating an amount of funding to, for example, piloting a shopper courtesy bus service between its development and the town centre area.
"But other than some warm words about future support for modest 'community' initiatives and volunteering, we have no firm commitment from Waitrose to do anything. Waitrose will be a direct threat to town centre prosperity."
Waitrose, which is part of the John Lewis Partnership, will build its new store on land owned by West Of Scotland Rugby Club, creating 200 jobs in the area.
As well as some traders, Milngavie Community Council had raised concerns about the impact of the store on Bearsden and Milngavie town centres, as well as increased traffic and flooding.
It also projected a drop in trade for small shops in Milngavie, ranging from 7% to 13%.
A spokeswoman for Waitrose said: "A thriving town centre is in our shared interests, as we underlined when we met with the Milngavie BID team. We will be making a multi-million pound investment that will deliver a quality new store and ensure we play our part in attracting shoppers to the area as well as creating 200 jobs for local people.
"We certainly want to play an active part in the town's future. However we are simply not in a position to make firm financial commitments more than 18 months before our new store is likely to open."
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