TESCO is forging ahead with plans to open on time in Lyme Regis, despite not yet having planning permission for the new store.

The covers came off at the Broad Street shop for the first time this week to reveal that automatic doors and a cash machine were already in place.

The supermarket is still awaiting planning consent for these changes to the former Woolworths site, as well as for a new shop sign and plant equipment on the roof of the building.

Tesco is aiming to open the Express store on Thursday, February 19, but says it will not go ahead unless planning permission is given. Corporate affairs manager Juliette Bishop said: “We are still awaiting decisions on our planning applications and remain in contact with the local council.

“Meanwhile we are continuing our work on the store, although we won’t be opening until the planning approval has been given. We hope to open the new store in February allowing our new staff to welcome customers.”

West Dorset District Council has warned the retailer it could be forced to tear down the work if permission is denied. Development services manager John Greenslade said: “The planning application for Tesco in Lyme Regis for a new shopfront and ATM is still to be determined.

“If Tesco choose to put up a new shop front and ATM without prior permission, then they do so at their own risk. If the planning application is refused, then enforcement action could be taken which would require them to remove these items.”

The district council has yet to decide if the plans will be determined by the case officer under delegated powers, or they will go before the authority’s development control committee.

Franny Owen, a representative of anti-Tesco group Love Lyme, said she is unhappy about the supermarket’s decision to go ahead with the work, but added: “It doesn’t surprise me at all. It is exactly the type of behaviour we have come to expect from a corporate giant that wants its own way and will bulldoze through anything else.

“Because of its corporate might, Tesco can steam roll anything in a way that any other member of the public or a small, local independent trader simply wouldn’t be able to consider. They simply could not take the risk and clearly Tesco can – it is another example of their arrogance.”

Mrs Owen is urging the district council to take the planning applications to committee, and says the group is considering ‘direct action’. She said: “We are considering other forms of direct action to focus attention on the concerns we have highlighted, particularly on the negative impact on the highway safety.

“We would expect to be carrying out direct action between now and committee in order to demonstrate to councillors what these problems are likely to be.”