A GRAVEL pit between Wallingford and Cholsey could spread dust over a tourism trail for Agatha Christie fans, conservationists have warned.

Grundon Sand and Gravel want to extract aggregate from land at New Barn Farm, west of Wallingford.

Communities Against Gravel Extraction (CAGE) has now responded to the application lodged with Oxfordshire County Council and said the proposal would severely damage tourism.

The group said a trail would be harmed for visitors investigating the area's connections with crime writer Agatha Christie, who lived in Winterbrook House from 1934 until her death in 1976.

The CAGE statement said: "During the Agatha Christie weekend in September, more than 600 people attended events and walked the trail that runs along two sides of the proposal site.

"CAGE contends that Oxfordshire County Council should not consider the planning application for this site until the combined visual, noise and dust impact on people using the Agatha Christie trail is assessed.

"The total negative impact will be severe, resulting in a sharp drop in the use of the trail by both residents and visitors.

"This will damage tourism, contrary to South Oxfordshire District Council policy."

The statement added that passengers on the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway would also be 'negatively impacted' by dust from the site.

CAGE's submission is supported by Wallingford town council, Cholsey parish council, Brightwell-cum-Sotwell parish council, Moulsford parish council, North Moreton parish council, Aston Tirrold parish council and Aston Upthorpe parish council.

Wallingford town councillor Adrian Lloyd said: "People are visiting Wallingford from all over the world because of its connections with Agatha Christie and we think the gravel pit would have a very negative impact on tourism."

Grundon Estates director Andrew Short said an outline application was drawn up for the New Barn Farm site followed by a public consultation exhibition in March.

He added: "We then refined our proposals in the light of feedback from attendees at the exhibition and our independent technical consultants.

"The resulting planning application and environment statement were submitted in July to Oxfordshire County Council, as the minerals planning authority.

"The council then sent the application out to all the statutory consultees – as well as other relevant local consultees.

"Once the council has received all the necessary and appropriate feedback, it can ask us to address the various issues raised.

"We will consider the detailed response from CAGE – as well as from other statutory consultees – during the next stage of this process."

The county council approved the latest draft of its minerals strategy last year.

Campaign to Protect Rural England minerals consultant Arnold Grayson said proposed figures for extraction were 42 per cent higher than previous drafts, up from 0.715 million tonnes a year to 1.015 million tonnes a year.

As a result, he said, new pits would probably be needed "most likely at Cholsey and Culham".

Grundon bought the 165-acre site at New Barn Farm in January last year.

The company is proposing to extract 2.5 million tonnes of sand and gravel from 67 acres of the site, at a rate of approximately 140,000 tonnes a year.

A Grundon spokesman said earlier this would mean an extraction period of about 18 years.