People living near the noisiest section of the A34 are celebrating after Highways Agency bosses brought forward a £7m resurfacing scheme by a year.

In 2002, residents were promised that the work would be carried out the following year.

But in April 2003 were told it would not take place until at least 2006.

Yesterday, the Highways Agency announced that the work would now begin this summer and be completed in December.

The announcement that concrete sections on an 8km stretch between Pear Tree and Weston-on-the-Green will be repaired with a quieter surface has delighted residents, who have been plagued by the roar of passing traffic.

Spokesman Cosima Duggal said: "If funding becomes available, then we spend it where there is a priority.

"We are always pleased when we are able to help people. Our job is to ensure that roads are kept operational and maintained."

Andrew Hornsby-Smith, Cherwell district councillor for Kidlington South ward, said he could hear the A34 from his house more than a mile away in The Homestead, Kidlington.

He said: "I am delighted because there is a constant rumble and people who live even closer to it have had to put up with this for years.

"The noisy section is made up of shoddy concrete with the wrong type of airholes and it's great news that it is going to be resurfaced.

"This is a tribute to Gosford and Water Eaton Parish Council which has fought for this for so long."

Greta Bickley, clerk to Bletchingdon Parish Council, added: "You can hear the road in some places in the village more than others, but I know residents will be delighted by this.

"The work was supposed to have happened years ago and even though the Highways Agency is promising to do the work this time, I will believe it when I see it."

The concrete stretch of the A34 was opened in 1990 and the amount of traffic grew rapidly after the M40 opened a few months later.

Shortly afterwards, residents living in villages alongside the dual carriageway began their campaign.

A public exhibition is being held on May 9 to explain the scheme and the effect on drivers.

It will take place at the Holiday Inn Hotel, off Pear Tree roundabout, north Oxford, from 3pm to 8pm.