WALLINGORD and its surrounding villages are sitting on 70 million tonnes of sand and gravel - and any one of a dozen sites could be earmarked to provide aggregate for Britain's roads and building industry.

Wallingford town councillor Pat Granados said: "These site options are not proposals - the county council has put them forward as possibilities.

"But I fear that if we do not shout loud enough and long enough at this initial stage, we will be regarded as not being too bothered about it.

"On these plans the whole of south Oxfordshire is up for grabs."

Council member Andrew Lock said: "All this came up some years ago and we spent about £15,000 on a professional review of our area which said there should be no gravel digging here.

"We will now resurrect that report as an initial response to these latest suggestions from Oxfordshire County Council. Then a small group will look at things in more detail."

At Preston Crowmarsh, Simon Watson said: "I heard of these things by chance - there seems to have been no real consultation.

"I copied 16 pages of the reports and maps and put them into all 55 houses in the village."

A meeting has been arranged on Saturday evening in the Barns at Battle Farm to discuss the issue.

When gravel extraction proposals were put forward previously, a pressure group Page - Parishes Against Gravel Extraction - was formed.

Its leader John Howell, now a county councillor, said: "The sites will be whittled down to a shortlist and that will be put forward for major consultation."