A green Euro-MP has given her support to treetop protesters who are battling to stop ancient woodland from being bulldozed.

Caroline Lucas, South-East England's Green MEP, said the landowners and developers should rethink plans to cut down 210 trees to make way for a Tesco and about 850 homes at Titnore Woods, Durrington, near Worthing.

Campaigners are into their third week at a makeshift protest camp in the woods and have built a network of treehouses and a kitchen.

Dr Lucas said: "The protest camp has struck a chord with nearby residents who are fiercely opposed to the planned development and are frustrated at the lack of further official channels for fighting the proposals.

"The popular support for the protest should ring an alarm with everyone involved in the project and prompt them to go back to the drawing board."

Protect Our Woodland, which is behind the protest, has been working against the plans since its establishment in 2002.

Landowner Clem Somerset is expected to sell the land to developers if the housing proposal by Heron Group, Persimmon Homes and Bryant Homes is approved by Worthing council.