Shortly after reporting that Faringdon Council was planning "to write to the Secretary of State", Andrew Ashcroft MRTPI was named as the new Independent Examiner for Faringdon Neighbourhood Plan. Faringdon Council shelved its bid to seek high-level intervention in the wake of this news. We have sent additional correspondence to Mr Ashcroft: - * Oxfordshire County Council's report and the new conditions imposed on Grundon Ltd, to ensure they restore Wicklesham Quarry without further delay. * A County Council letter (28th May 2013), stating that: "The draft Neighbourhood Plan does not include any references to ecology or potential policies to ensure important habitats and species are protected and opportunities to enhance the biodiversity and wildlife of the local area are promoted for ecological and community benefits.” * Our request for a public oral hearing on Wicklesham Quarry. Recently, the Vale has defended its employment land allocation for Faringdon - which does NOT include Wicklesham Quarry - in the (separate) Examination of the Draft Local Plan 2031, stating: "The Council considers that no clear or persuasive evidence has been submitted to the Council to demonstrate or indeed promote any alternative sites". Even without taking into consideration - * Wicklesham's statutory protection and ‘unique’ value as an earth science SSSI; * Its statutory protection as a host for Priority Habitat and European Protected Species; * Its protected landscape setting on the Corallian Ridge; - the Vale has rejected Faringdon Council's case to turn Wicklesham Quarry into an industrial/ warehousing site, purely for lack of supporting evidence. Faringdon Council's own consultants informed them of the environmental policy framework relating to Wicklesham Quarry- information omitted from the Neighbourhood Plan. Oxfordshire County Council also informed them that planning matters relating to Wicklesham Quarry were a 'county matter'. Under the Localism Act, 'county matters' are excluded from Neighbourhood Plans, and constitute a breach of the 'Basic Conditions'. If, as mounting evidence suggests, this policy was predetermined, and /or Faringdon Councillors have acted as agents of a private landowner - this raises troubling issues of probity in public office. Neighbourhood planning was NOT intended to circumvent strategic planning and national environmental policies, in order to serve the ambitions of local landowners! While we wait for news, we know that many eyes are now watching this case for the issues it raises for local democracy, planning law, and environmental protection.