A major £8m road scheme for Witney, first planned 15 years ago, may still not go ahead.

Objectors to the Cogges Link have won a public inquiry after protesting to the Government about a side road order for the scheme.

More than 100 letters of objection were received and the Department of Transport has now agreed to hold an inquiry which, at the earliest, will be held in February.

Campaigners today welcomed a chance to stop the scheme. They claim the road will cause serious environmental damage in the Windrush Valley and will not solve any of the town's traffic problems.

Colin Fowler, chairman of the conservation group, the Witney Society, said: "We should get our views heard properly. The side road order was issued before planning permission was given, but this gives us a chance to try to scrap the scheme."

The society wants alternatives to be investigated, including a new junction at Shores Green on the A40 Witney bypass, to take traffic away from the town centre.

Oxfordshire County Council, however, is disappointed at yet another delay to a scheme seen as vital to easing traffic congestion problems in the town centre.

David Robertson, the county council executive member for transport, who represents Witney North, said: "It's not quite that critical because we did take into account that something like this would happen.

"But it has been in the Local Plan for the past 15 years. Anyone who has had to sit in the traffic, like I did this morning, trying to get into the town through Bridge Street, will regret more delay."