A council may launch a legal bid to overturn John Prescott's decision on a controversial ballast stockpile.

The Deputy Prime Minister said Railtrack did not have to apply for planning permission for its stockpiling operation at Hinksey Sidings in south Oxford, and an environmental impact assessment was not needed either.

There have been hundreds of complaints about noise, dust and fumes from the site, which they call a "virtual quarry". Residents say the stockpile of ballast - coarse stone used to form the bed of railway tracks - is too close to homes, a health centre and nursery school.

They are backed by Oxfordshire County Council, which is now considering a legal challenge to the decision and is consulting its lawyers about the move. Planning chiefs wanted Mr Prescott to force Railtrack to apply for permission after huge public protests about the scheme.

In a report to be heard by the council's planning sub-committee on Monday David Young, director of environmental services, said: "The council's immediate task now, in the light of the Secretary of State's decision, is to do everything within its power to mitigate the impact of Railtrack's development. We think it is important that the issue of alternative sites is looked at seriously again."

Mr Young said Railtrack had been told of a potential site at Kidlington but it was dismissed as "too small."

He added: "Yet the current application by Tarmac for an aggregates depot at this site proposes a greater throughput of material than Railtrack have proposed at Hinksey Sidings."

Councillors will discuss writing to Mr Prescott expressing concern at the length of time it took him to make a decision on the scheme.

The Deputy Prime Minister already faces being taken to Ombudsman over his handling of the affair.

Story date: Saturday 27 November

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