Campaigners against a new supermarket have called on Weybridge’s newly-elected county councillor to re-evaluate the traffic impact of the proposed shop.

The Weybridge Society wrote to Christian Mahne to urge him to get Surrey Highways to carry out a full evaluation on the traffic impact of the proposed new Morrisons in Monument Hill.

The group fear the local authority’s traffic assessment, which was based on traffic modelling from Morrisons, underestimated the impact of the proposed shop at the former Focus DIY store.

Morrisons submitted fresh plans for a smaller store after its original designs were thrown out by Elmbridge Council in October.

Reasons for refusal included inadequate parking provision which could have led to queuing in Monument Hill.

The letter from Dave Arnold, the society’s chairman, said that based on Morrisons’ figures, the new shop would increase traffic by about 15 per cent at peak times.

The group feared this would swamp the road network, which they said was already operating at or beyond capacity, particularly around the junction at St James Church.

The letter also raised concerns about the short lead-in into the car park from Monument Hill and the customer parking provision, which the society believes is inadequate.

Peter Vey, of the society, said: “The combination of a short lead in and inadequate car parking risks causing vehicle back up and gridlock on Monument Hill and in the High Street both of which form part of the A317 trunk route used extensively by the emergency services.”

The society said it did recognise that the site needed to be developed and the benefits Morrisons would bring.

Richard Haynes, Development Executive at Morrisons said:“We continue to work closely with Surrey County Council to finalise the details of a robust, watertight and effective highways plan for our new store.

"We are confident that we have a satisfactory joint solution and we will continue our engagement with both the Council and the local community as we progress towards a decision on our new planning application.”

The application has attracted opposition from residents and community groups and more than 100 letters of objection have been submitted to the council.

The planning application is expected to be considered by Elmbridge West Area Planning Sub Committee in June or July.