M&S Oxford Street store plan opposed by author Bill Bryson and architects

Raze-and-rebuild proposal for London shop led to carbon footprint debate, with public inquiry looming

The author Bill Bryson and architects including the Stirling prize winner Steve Tompkins and Mark Hines, the project director for the remodelling of BBC Broadcasting House, have lined up to oppose plans to flatten Marks & Spencer's store on London's Oxford Street.

Bryson, who is best known for Notes from a Small Island and A Short History of Nearly Everything, has donated 500 to a fighting fund established by the campaign group Save Britain's Heritage in the run-up to a public inquiry into the plan - under which M&S wants to build a new store and offices on the same site - ordered by the former communities secretary Michael Gove in June.