Up to 30 campaigners have joined the protest

Oliver Carter, 24, built a tree house on the Station Road site in an attempt to stop Tesco felling 200 trees to make way for a store and housing estate.

"We have been served with a claim form for possession of property from the Royal Courts of Justice," he said.

"I'm going to go to the High Court so I can state our case.

'Replace trees'

Tesco has been granted planning permission for the site and has said it will replace all trees it cuts down.

Mr Carter has been joined by around 30 other people who have travelled from around the country to support his stand.

A network of rope ladders and platforms has been built in the trees to allow the protesters to move from one to another without coming down.

"Other people are going to stay in the trees so we will have people here in case they come to evict us while I'm away," said Mr Carter.

"The planning committee heard first-hand from the campaigners about the trees and they also heard about how they have been poorly managed in the past and are not native species," said a Tesco spokeswoman.

"Tesco will replant more trees than are removed and the majority of these will be semi-mature and native species. This was accepted by the planning committee," she said.