Iceland executive chairman Richard Walker has hit out at Aldi and Lidl over “restrictive” land deals that are “preventing competition on retail parks”.

The boss of the frozen food retailer said that the German discounters are using “legal tricks” through property deal clauses that prevent competitors from opening stores within the same area, The Grocer reported.

In 2006, a market investigation led to UK supermarket giant’s Tesco, Sainsbury’s Morrisons, Asda, M&S, Waitrose and Co-op banned from using the clauses – known as restrictive covenants – under the Groceries Market Investigation (Controlled Land) Order 2010.

However, at the time, Aldi and Lidl were not considered large enough, with a combined store count of around 300, alongside Iceland, which is also not bound by the law.

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However, Lidl now has over 960 stores and Aldi has more than 1,200, quickly approaching the number of many supermarkets covered by the law.

As a result, Walker has urged the new government to revisit the order.

He said: “The German-owned supermarkets were just a twinkling in the CMA’s eye when this order was first made.

“Fourteen years on, and with the return of a Labour Government, surely it is time to look at how the active use of these legal tricks is preventing competition on retail parks in towns across the UK.”

It comes as Aldi is set to create 1,000 jobs in upcoming new stores across the UK before the end of the year amid plans to open 10 new stores across the UK this summer and 35 new stores before the end of the year as part of a £550m investment.