VILLAGERS living near Wallingford are celebrating after county council leaders said their countryside would not be torn up for gravel extraction — but campaigners still fear a long-term threat.

Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet last week took the decision to concentrate sand and gravel extraction on areas that were already being worked.

There had been fears that big increases in extraction in Oxfordshire, demanded by central Government, would have a devastating effect on rural parts of the county.

But the cabinet rejected the option of taking gravel from areas such as Clanfield, Bampton, Stanton Harcourt, Clifton Hampden, the Wittenhams, Benson, Shillingford, Warborough and Cholsey. Instead, the cabinet agreed to focus extraction work on the areas already being worked in the Lower Windrush Valley, Eynsham, Cassington, Yarnton, Radley, Sutton Courtenay and Caversham.

The Parishes Against Extraction group (PAGE), representing eight parishes in South Oxfordshire, was formed after it emerged that Oxfordshire faced increasing its extraction target by 15 per cent, to 2.1m tonnes a year.

PAGE spokesman Steve Thompson said: “We welcome the decision. But while this is an excellent result in the short to medium term, the threat has not yet passed.

“The decision taken applies to the short to medium term and will be re-assessed once future production targets have been established.

“The target of 2.1m tonnes is still in force until the county council can agree a figure based on new evidence and a robust argument.

“The county council will be appointing a consultant to carry out this work, with results due at the end of this year or early 2011.

“Continuing pressure exists to develop new working areas in the south of the county because there are limited sand and gravel resources remaining in Sutton Courtenay.

“Additionally, there is a continuing concern of the cumulative impact of mineral workings on the local communities, landscape and lorry traffic in the Lower Windrush Valley and the Eynsham/Cassington/Yarnton areas.

“In the short to medium term this decision is good news and the overall feeling among residents is relief but we will not take our eye off the ball on this one.”

Mark Gray, chairman of Cholsey Parish Council, added: “It is a real relief for the area.

“The consultation just caused people to worry and there was no need for it. It was always obvious to get the gravel from existing sites.”

Mr Gray said that people had feared the noise, dust and heavy lorry traffic that work would bring.

A county council spokesman said it would continue to press for a reduction in the county’s sand and gravel extraction target.

Earlier, Ian Hudspeth, county council cabinet member for infrastructure, wrote to the Department of Communities and Local Government complaining that unfair extraction figures had been drawn up by the regional assembly, which is being abolished. He said Oxfordshire was having to bear an increase to allow reductions in extraction targets set for other counties like Kent and Surrey.