A group of campaigners has raised the funds needed to fight two planning appeals by giant retailer Tesco.

Save Ashtead Village Environment (Save) and Ashtead Residents’ Association (ARA) have raised over £25,000 to employ a specialist planning advisor and a barrister to “represent the village’s interests” at the public inquiry into Tesco’s appeals.

Paul Le Versha, chairman of ARA, said: “I am quite overwhelmed by the speed and generosity of the response we have received. We are enormously grateful for the many generous donations and supportive comments.

“These proposals raise a number of complex issues which deserve to be examined in a considered, balanced and informed way. I am increasingly confident that a very strong case can be made to the planning inspector to uphold the decisions made by Mole Valley District Council to refuse these applications.

“The hard work now begins, as the detailed case is prepared for the hearing. Geoff Douglass is already hard at work on this and he is being supported by a number of volunteers with skills in key areas.”

Tesco has submitted two plans for an Ashtead supermarket to Mole Valley. The first was turned down but Tesco lodged an appeal against the decision. The second application was 24 per cent smaller than the previous one but was also turned down.

Both appeals are set to be considered at the public inquiry.

Gillian Russell, representing Save, said: "This is a brilliant result. It shows that many people in Ashtead care deeply about our village and are determined to help us mount as strong a case as possible, on many planning fronts, to get Tesco's two over-sized proposals rejected.

“We will, for example, be presenting evidence to show that Tesco's predicted 1,557 cars to their second proposed store per weekday (which we have evidence to show is probably an underestimate) is completely unsustainable for the village. A huge thank you to all our supporters. It would be really fantastic if we could now raise the final £5,000 to secure a barrister for the entire public inquiry, which may last up to seven days"

Eoin Dardis, spokesman for Tesco, said: "Our proposals for a new store in Ashtead were developed to strike the right balance in terms of providing the range of goods to prevent people from leaving the village to do their weekly shopping in a store that is the appropriate size for the area.

"There is support among local people, including local businesses, for these proposals and our application was recommended for approval by the Council's officers based on its compliance with local planning policy.

"We will continue to liaise with the council in advance of the planning inquiry this summer."