A CAMPAIGN group says Oxfordshire County Council’s sand and gravel extraction targets are too high and will lead to unnecessary destruction.

The county’s branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) yesterday said County Hall’s goal to dig up 1.2 million tonnes a year could be cut to 870,000 tonnes.

It said changes in building design and methods mean less is needed.

And it called for the council to look again at its draft minerals planning strategy which sets out targets for mineral extraction until 2030.

But the county council last night said it had already cut the figures.

CPRE Oxfordshire director Helen Marshall said: “These figures are important because they translate directly into holes in the ground and trucks on the roads.

“The communities of West Oxfordshire have suffered from the effects of extensive mineral extraction for years, and the county is now looking to open up new sites in other districts.

“Anything we can do to reduce these figures to a more realistic level will help take the pressure off.”

The group’s local minerals consultant Arnold Grayson also said there was more recycled material available.

He said: “In addition, we are asking the council to investigate the possibility of bringing in materials by rail, such as China clay sand from Cornwall.”

Consultation on the council’s extraction plans ended yesterday. Under the plans, work would continue at existing sites in the lower Windrush Valley, and around Eynsham, Cassington and Yarnton, and at Caversham, near Reading.

It wants to start extracting from Cholsey when reserves at Sutton Courtenay run out.

Cholsey resident Adrian Hatt is fighting the bid which would mean about 200,000 tonnes of sand and gravel being extracted near his village every year.

Mr Hatt, 60, from Goldfinch Lane, cited the lack of demand for building materials in the recession, saying: “It is all the more reason not to break into an entirely new area when you have that sort of commercial uncertainty.”

County councillor for Eynsham Charles Mathew said 40 per cent of the Lower Windrush and Evenlode Valleys had been dug up for gravel since the Second World War.

He added: “Naturally, that affects very substantially the appearance of the area and the lives of the people who live in it.”

The council also wants to allow soft sand work east and south east of Faringdon, north and south of the A420, west of Abingdon and at Duns Tew.

It also envisages crushed rock work north of Bicester, east of the River Cherwell, south of the A40 near Burford, and around Faringdon.

Council spokesman Owen Morton said it had cut the Government’s proposed target of 2.1 million tonnes a year and also wanted to increase the amount of recycled material such as power station ash used.

The plan will scrutinised by an independent inspector next year.