Families who have spent almost two years fighting to stop a quarry from being created on the edge of Norwich have received the shock news that the controversial scheme has been ditched.

Villagers in Marlingford, near Norwich, have been battling proposals for a 50-acre gravel quarry on land to the north of Bawburgh Road since 2009.

And today they were told that the Lombe Estate Trust, which owns the land where the quarry would have been built, had withdrawn their proposal from Norfolk County Council's Minerals Site Specific Allocations Development Plan Document.

That blueprint for where gravel quarries and waste processing sites could be allocated during the next 15 years contains a list of 35 potential waste management sites and 28 quarries and is currently out for public consultation until August 15.

The plans for Marlingford were among the most controversial, but the county council confirmed that agents acting on behalf of the Lombe Estate Trust had withdrawn the plans, to the delight of campaigners.

Families lobbied at County Hall earlier this year to protest about the proposals, arguing that the roads would be clogged by lorries and the quarry would have a devastating impact on the surrounding Yare Valley.

The Evening News was told by Norwich-based property consultants Bidwells, which had been representing the Lombe Estate Trust, that there would be no comment on the reasons for the withdrawal.

But South Norfolk District councillor Margaret Dewsbury, whose Easton ward includes Marlingford, said: 'It's brilliant news. People in the village have had signs up now for about two years and they will be delighted to hear this.

'If it happened, we would have got large lorries coming through the village and the A47 would have ground to a halt at Marlingford.'