People living in Oxfordshire villages can enjoy a community common after land was handed over by a waste management firm.

The Appleford and Sutton Courtenay Millennium Common was officially presented to Oxfordshire county councillor Margaret McKenzie at a launch ceremony on Saturday.

After the formalities, Cllr Charles Shouler, right, chairman of the county council, and others, enjoyed a guided tour of the site and met the management committee, which includes representatives from the county council, Vale of White Horse District Council, Appleford and Sutton Courtenay parish councils, Waste Recycling Group, and Hanson Aggregates.

The land, which lies off the B4016 Appleford Road, near Sutton Courtenay, was handed over by Steve Bruce-Jones, managing director of the central division of Waste Recycling Group. The company acquired the common land, and a neighbouring waste management facility, in January 2001.

County Cllr McKenzie, who chairs a committee set up to manage the common, said: "I am very pleased to be opening this common on behalf of Sutton Courtenay. It has been a long time coming and is small compensation for what waste disposal people do to this area.

"It will give the community an area where all ages can walk, relax and enjoy the interesting flora and fauna."

Mr Bruce-Jones said the common's rich wildlife showed that industry and nature could co-exist comfortably - when sensitively managed.

The site includes areas of natural woodland, planted poplars and rough grassland, and is home to many varieties of wild flowers and grasses, including some uncommon species, such as the the pyramidal orchid and grass vetchling.

The common was created as a village millennium project, and received a grant from building materials firm Hanson Aggregates, which owns and operates a nearby gravel quarry.