PLANS for a big wheel to be set up in an Oxford city centre car park have been dropped, it emerged yesterday.

Great City Attractions submitted a planning application to the city council to set up the attraction in Worcester Street car park, for three months during the winter.

But it is now withdrawing the plan, which was opposed by county council leader Keith Mitchell and the Oxford Civic Society.

Mr Mitchell said the 40-metre high wheel would be a “monstrous carbuncle” and urged city planners to turn down the application for the wheel, which would have been in place from November to January.

Great City Attractions spokesman Max Carlish said the company was now looking into an opportunity to have the wheel in a different location during the summer, supporting a summer programme of events.

City councillor Colin Cook said: “The application prompted objections, but wherever you put a big wheel in the city centre you are bound to get complaints because there are so many colleges and historic buildings nearby.”