PLANS to take heavy lorries out of the centre of an Oxfordshire town, by diverting them past an ancient stone circle, have been labelled "crazy."

The scheme to cut traffic in Chipping Norton by sending it along a country road beside the Rollright Stones has surfaced in an air quality action plan to get rid of excessive traffic fumes in the west Oxfordshire town.

The plan is out for public consultation.

But the chairman of the Rollright Trustees said they had not been formally consulted and would resist it forcefully.

The scheme would see the road, which bisects the national heritage site, widened to take HGVs.

It would link the A44 at the Cross Hands pub to the A3400 Oxford to Stratford road, effectively creating a mini-bypass. It would cost close on £5m, plus compulsory purchase of roadside land.

George Lambrick, the trustees' chairman, said: "The road goes right through the middle of a significant ancient monument, one of the first 50 scheduled in this country.

"This proposal is absolutely crazy, it's nutty, and it's the first we know of it. We haven't been consulted at all.

"We've had problems with vandalism at the stones. We certainly don't need another form of it, with heavy lorries thundering past.

"It's just going to wreck what the site stands for. We will be objecting very strongly."

The site attracts thousands of visitors a year. There are two groups of stones, the Whispering Knights and King's Men and a single-standing King's Stone.

The scheme would need scheduled ancient monument consent because of the heritage status of the prehistoric stones.

It is one of a range of prop- osals, drawn up by consultants for West Oxfordshire District Council, which went on public exhibition at Chipping Norton town hall.

The town's Horsefair and High Street have nitrogen dioxide levels from traffic significantly above recommended Government levels.

Town councillor and member of the A44 Action Group, which campaigns to reduce heavy lorries using the route from Oxford through to Evesham, Worcester and beyond, Eve Coles, said the amount of traffic in the town was and remains a key concern for residents.

She said: "I'm concerned that people have their say on this. The levels are 50 per cent above what they should be and something needs to be done.

"Everyone has complained about all the heavy vehicles coming through the town."

The report said alternative traffic diversion schemes via bypasses to the south and north of the town were out of the question, as they would be massively expensive and take at least 10 years to deliver.

Cheaper options include imposing weight restrictions to divert heavy lorries out of the town centre on to other routes and to control traffic with a gate to shift congestion to the town outskirts.