Education bosses stand accused of "plundering" Oxfordshire's playing fields by selling off school land worth £56m in just 10 years.

Oxfordshire County Council has sold off dozens of acres of green fields since 1998 - including whole school sites, playing fields and buildings - figures obtained by the Oxford Mail show.

Campaigners and experts said officials had put short-term financial gain above the long-term considerations of children's health.

And they said the child obesity crisis gripping the country was not helped by the sale of school land. But County Hall insisted every penny of the millions raised from the 43 sales had been ploughed back into education - and said many had been directly replaced by new sites.

Green county councillor Larry Sanders said he was very concerned about the figures.

He said: "That is a vast amount of playing fields and a vast amount of money.

"There is no doubt how important playing fields are. Learning to play and learning to do sports is an important part in keeping healthy.

"The sales have to be at the risk of children's health.

"Some of them might have been justified - there might have been more sports facilities - but it's hard to believe that's true in 43 instances."

The Oxford Mail unearthed the amount of money raised from the sale of school fields, fixtures and fittings using the Freedom of Information Act. County Hall, the local education authority, said it could not reveal what all the sites were currently being used for, but figures showed they were sold to a variety of buyers including individuals, housing associations, private developers, religious organisations and parish councils.

Alison Moore-Gwyn, chief executive of Fields In Trust - formerly the National Playing Fields Association - said: "Plugging gaps in funding through the sale of these finite resources has far-reaching implications for future generations and is exceptionally short-sighted given the fact the country is in the grip of an obesity crisis. We should be encouraging children to participate in healthy outdoor activity, rather than plundering this legacy of open space."

County council spokesman Paul Smith, said: "The disposal of school sites is only taken forward when there is a significant benefit that can be achieved by using the generated receipt to improve, upgrade and modernise the existing school accommodation."

He said many of the sales could be explained by the amalgamation of junior and infant school sites in a county-wide shake-up of education back in 2003.

He added: "All schools have a national legal requirement to have a certain amount of playing fields in relation to the number of pupils at the school.

"Some sites have had more playing fields than needed compared to the number of children at the school.

"Any sales must go through a rigorous application process to the department for children, schools and families for consent."

Rod Aitken, principle project manager for the county council, said: "The council puts all money raised from land sales back in to education.

"The only exception in some cases are staff houses, which are classified as a general council facility. This is a very small proportion, less than two per cent, of the £56m."

County councillor Michael Waine, the county's cabinet member for schools improvement, said: "It's a very sound and sensible use of public money. The only place where playing fields are sold is where they are way over the Government recommended average.

"I think there is a touch of nonsense in the view of trying to link it with obesity.

"We have the responsibility to achieve the very best schools, which include school grounds and school playing fields. In every single case the money has been reinvested into school buildings."

Sandhills Primary School sold about five acres of its playing field to Bryant Homes for £4.8m in 2001. But headteacher Joe Johnson said the firm gave the school 10 acres of a neighbouring field to use as its grounds instead and also funded new school buildings.

Mr Johnson said: "In our case it has brought great benefits to the school, to the children and to the community."