A “blot on the landscape” Oxfordshire landmark will be demolished despite huge opposition from environmental campaigners.

The 1940s grain silo, next to the Water Eaton Park and Ride between Oxford and Kidlington, is set to be bulldozed to make way for a 1.6 hectare waste-recycling plant.

Demolition work is set to begin immediately, after the Government declined to challenge Oxfordshire County Council’s decision to approve Grundon Waste management’s scheme.

Campaigners who fought to keep the silo, which sits next to the A34 on Green Belt land, expressed disappointment that the Government Office for the South East (GOSE) had failed to call in the application.

Ian Scargill, chairman of the Oxford Green Belt Network, said: “Our group objected not because we want to keep the grain silo, which we think is an eyesore, but because the building proposed in its place is a huge building of aircraft hangar proportions.

“It will be very visible and we think buildings of industrial proportions are out of scale and out of character with the Green Belt.

“The Green Belt is supposed to promote visual amenity and openness, but this is too big and too insensitive. There is also the problem of traffic, with seven-day, 24-hour access on a very busy stretch.

“This is a pretty narrow gap on the edge of Oxford and one of the five basic aims of the Green Belt is to maintain these gaps.”

Cherwell District Council, Oxford Preservation Trust, Kidlington Parish Council and the Campaign to Protect Rural England all criticised the plan on the basis that it would damage the Green Belt.

Gosford and Water Eaton Parish Council also expressed concern for the future of birds nesting in the silo, the issue of 24-hour lorry access and the risk of waste material leaking into streams.

Michael Gibbard, district councillor for Yarnton, Gosford and Water Eaton, said: “I’m disappointed, mainly because of my wish to preserve the Green Belt. Perhaps many people will not regret that the grain silo is coming down.

“They see it as a blot on the landscape. We are assured that the vast roof of the new facility will be fully landscaped. I hope that this is so.”

A spokesman for Grundon said the Ewelme-based company planned to make an “immediate start” on building the 127m-long steel-framed building on the site.

The new Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), which aims to stop the area’s rubbish being transported out of the county, will be capable of operating 24 hours a day and handling up to 150,000 tonnes of waste a year. It will create 72 new jobs and should be complete by the end of 2009.

The spokesman said: “We are very pleased that the GOSE has decided not to call in the application. This decision reflects all the hard work the district and county officers and members put into making the original recommendation for approval of the scheme.

“We are making an immediate start on the groundworks and our first job will be to demolish the silos. We will keep people informed of progress and in the near future will be talking to members of the county, district and parish councils about possibly setting up a liaison group for the site.”

tairs@oxfordmail.co.uk