Controversial plans to turn part of Oxford's Bodleian Library into a pay-as-you-enter visitor centre have been withdrawn.

Visitors would have been charged to visit the Old Schools Quadrangle, often used as a backdrop in films and TV programmes, except holders of Oxfordshire residents' passes.

A door would have been cut into the 400-year-old library's Great Gate as part of the scheme.

But after much opposition, the University has decided to withdraw temporarily its planning application for more consultation with city council planning officers.

A University statement said: "The University is conscious of the comments raised during the ongoing consultation process which we would hope to reflect in subsequent planning applications.

"The planned visitor programme has been designed to alleviate the noise and congestion problems which frequently occur at the height of the tourist season and occasionally at other times throughout the year, and to give visitors to the Old Schools Quadrangle and Divinity School a better insight into the history of the library and its role within the University and the world of learning."

The statement said the University believed it was important that local residents could enjoy free access to the Bodleian and this had been built into the proposals.

It added: "Rather than simply closing the gates to all tourists, we are taking a great deal of care to find a proposal which balances the operational needs of a working library with efforts to provide well-managed access to an important heritage site."

City planning committee chairman Cllr John Goddard said: "It would take a lot to persuade me that it was necessary to knock down a 17th century wall and rebuild it. It does not matter how careful you are, it is never going to be the same again. I hope that they come up with a scheme that does not mean the same level of intrusion to the fabric of the building."