A WASTE and mineral policy criticised by the Government has been scrapped by Oxfordshire County Council.

The authority last night announced that it had shelved its minerals and waste core strategy.

It comes after planning inspector Jonathan King questioned whether district councils had been properly consulted on the policy.

The news has been welcomed in South Oxfordshire, where campaigners had been fighting plans for a gravel pit near Cholsey. Didcot East and Hagbourne councillor Patrick Greene said: “I believe that the minerals assessment which is being carried out now will give a lower figure (for how much gravel could be mined) and I hope that in that case we will not need a pit at Cholsey.”

Wallingford independent councillor Lynda Atkins added: “I think it’s an opportunity to have all the information about the Cholsey site properly assessed and I think if we do that people will understand there are things about the site which would make it a very bad place to dig gravel.”

But Wallingford mayor Bernard Stone, a member of Cage (Communities Against Gravel Extraction), warned: “Just because the strategy has been withdrawn doesn’t mean the threat is going to go away.”