RESIDENTS in Woodeaton are stepping up a campaign against a proposal to dump 520,000 tonnes of rubble in a quarry after a planning application was submitted.

McKenna Plant Hire wants to restore Woodeaton Quarry by transporting an average of 20 lorry-loads of material a day from construction sites to the quarry over a 10 year period.

The Wheatley company, which owns the site, says its plans will protect and improve access to the limestone cliff-face, designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) after yielding some rare dinosaur skeletons.

Under the plan, lorries would reach the quarry by travelling from the Green Road roundabout in Headington, through Barton on Bayswater Road and along the B4027 past Beckley.

Ginette Camps-Walsh, of Woodeaton Quarry Action Committee, which opposes the plan, said: “For people who live near the quarry there are going to be major issues with noise, inconvenience, and dust, but the route is not actually through the village. For people on the route, it is the lorries.”

She added: “Many cyclists and horse riders use this route and there are many dangerous junctions. There have been a number of serious accidents.”

Residents are planning a meeting to discuss campaign tactics ahead of a decision on the application being taken by the county council.

McKenna’s transport assessment estimated lorry journeys would account for just 0.2 per cent of traffic using the B4027.

Woodeaton parish meeting chairman Peter Hore said: “It’s difficult to imagine that it will not impact on our lives in terms of noise, inconvenience and dust.”

The 16-acre quarry, which dates back to the 1940s, has not been worked since the early 2000s.

There is an existing planning permission to allow further quarrying at the site until 2042, but McKenna says that will not be carried out if its restoration plans are approved.

McKenna’s planning consultant Suzi Coyne said: “At the moment there is no restoration scheme for the quarry. It could continue working until 2042 and there is quite a lot of material in there which anyone could reopen.

“If nothing is done, it would leave a totally unsafe quarry. We’re offering to do it in 10 years, restore the landscape and safeguard the SSSI.”