In the run-up to Faringdon Council's decision on whether to support the Neighbourhood Plan's (FNP) plan to turn Wicklesham Quarry into a 20 acre industrial warehousing site, Faringdon Town Councillors will today receive individual copies of all the comments left by people who have signed the petition to PROTECT WICKLESHAM QUARRY FROM DEVELOPMENT. *Councillors KNOW that the quarry is part of a working farm, and due to be returned to agricultural use as part of its planning conditions. *They KNOW that it is not a "brownfield site", as the FNP Basic Conditions Statement wrongly claims. *They KNOW that the National Planning Policy Framework sets out environmental policies for the high-quality restoration of former mineral workings. *They KNOW that the quarry lies within a landscape accorded high environmental protection by the Vale of White Horse District Council. *They KNOW that it is a SSSI of international importance as a unique site of geodiversity, whose fossils have been studied since the 17th century. *They KNOW that it is also a site of rich biodiversity, with breeding colonies of toads, 3 species of newts including Great Crested Newts, and that the Wicklesham tetrad is home to 11 rare plant species. *They KNOW that this site has been rejected for industrial use by 2 independent Employment Land Reviews (most recently in 2013), by the Vale of White Horse (Preferred Options Report), and that it came out BOTTOM of ten possible employment sites in the Neighbourhood Plan's Sustainability Appraisal. If they did not know any of this before, Faringdon Councillors can no longer claim ignorance of the National Planning Policy Framework, Wicklesham's restoration plan (attached below), and the environmental importance of the quarry's bio and geodiversity and landscape setting. From the latest Council Minutes, it appears Faringdon Councillors are preparing a Q&A sheet to make sure they have answers to the many questions now being asked about Wicklesham Quarry. We can only wish that they had informed themselves about Wicklesham Quarry three years ago when the Neighbourhood Plan process began, rather than taking at face value steering group members claims that it was a 'prime employment site', and the landowner's statement that it was nothing more than a 'hole in the ground' that he once planned to use as a landfill site. Sincere thanks to everyone who has taken an interest and supported the petition. Please keep it in people's minds by sending the link to anyone you know who would wish to help PROTECT WICKLESHAM QUARRY.