TESCO chief executive Sir Terry Leahy says the supermarket giant remains "open-minded" about the future of the Gerrards Cross store.

In an interview with The Independent Sir Terry said the project was still suspended pending a health and safety report but the company as a whole was expanding.

The locally opposed Gerrards Cross store was designed to span the railway but collapsed during construction on June 30.

Although no one was hurt, the busy commuter route to London was blocked for the next seven weeks.

Tesco has offered more than £10,000 to Gerrards Cross Parish Council to make up for the disaster.

The cash will go towards revitalising the Latchmoor Pond and the Christmas lights fund.

Restoring a damaged bus shelter is another project under consideration.

The high-profile set back also cost the UK's most successful supermarket thousands of pounds in compensation to passengers on Chiltern Railways.

A spokesman for Tesco confirmed the plans are still on hold and the company is working on finding a solution to ongoing problems in Gerrards Cross.

He said: "We are taking stock and looking at all possible solutions. We are taking one day at a time."

Villagers have been opposed to the planned store since it was granted planning permission several years ago.

National television crews descended on the town when hundreds of people staged an organised protest at the building site, several weeks after the collapsed.

Hundreds more showed their support by sounding their horns as they passed protesters.

Police condemned the action after traffic seized up along Packhorse Road during the protest.

Dr Arnold Harris, one of the protesters, who has lived in the town for 13 years, said at the time that he would not travel through the tunnel once it is reopened.

He said: "We did not want Tesco here in the first place.

"There will be people like me who will not use Chiltern any more purely because of this. We moved here because it was so lovely. It is not lovely anymore."

A laser has been installed to monitor the tunnel to detect a potential collapse and warn off trains. The laser has been put in place and will electronically alter train signals if any movement is detected.