We have written to Oxfordshire County Council Deputy Director Bev Hindle to ask about the Restoration and Aftercare of Wicklesham Quarry. In October 2015, Mr Hindle acknowledged "local concern that the activity on the site continues to go on and on without restoration being achieved", and placed conditions on Grundon Ltd in order to "focus all activity on the restoration of the site.” He confirmed the County Council's obligations to “protect the landscape of the area”, and “restore and enhance biodiversity” in accordance with the Local Plan. We sent this report to Andrew Ashcroft, Independent Examiner, who makes NO reference to it in his report on Faringdon Neighbourhood Plan. He has also ignored Oxfordshire's BIODIVERSITY ACTION PLAN (also submitted by us), in which Wicklesham belongs to the Conservation Target Area of West Oxfordshire Heights. We find Mr Ashcroft's disregard of core strategic policies of the Local Plan mystifying, as he has chosen NOT to explain his reasons on any of these issues. Local people are well aware that the “main purpose” of Faringdon Neighbourhood Plan (recorded in Council Minutes) is to help its owners get planning permission for an after-use of the quarry that neither the County Council nor the Vale of White Horse District Council would approve (in spite of an 8 year campaign) because it does NOT ACCORD with the Local Plan or Minerals and Waste Policies. The roles of Wicklesham owner, Sarah Allen-Stevens, and land agent, Andrew Brown, on both the Steering Group and Employment Land Group of the Neighbourhood Plan underlines these aims. Faringdon Councillors and quarry owners, the Allen-Stevens, believe that the Neighbourhood Plan is a way to "get round" the Local Plan and National Planning Policy Framework- by-passing the rules that prevent them from turning the quarry into a 20 acre warehousing site. This would more than DOUBLE the amount of employment land Faringdon needs to 2031, according to independent assessments by URS Ltd. Recently, the Vale District Council repeated its rejection of Wicklesham quarry- stating that “no persuasive evidence” has been put forward, and the Examiner of the Draft Local Plan has endorsed the Vale’s Employment Land allocation for Faringdon. This extraordinary situation is set to make a travesty of the planning system- unless Vale Councillors vote NOT to accept Faringdon Neighbourhood Plan. The campaign to PROTECT WICKLESHAM QUARRY is STANDING UP FOR: - * Protecting our valued local landscape- the Mid Vale Corallian Ridge; * Protecting Wicklesham Quarry SSSI - our unique Earth Science heritage site and “one of Britain’s richest palaeontological sites”; * Conserving Wicklesham tetrad’s Conservation Target Area - which contains ELEVEN RARE PLANT SPECIES, Priority Habitat, and European Protected Species; * Protecting Local Plan policies, which- unlike Faringdon Neighbourhood Plan- were NOT written by developers trying to push private interests through the planning system by the back door! The campaign to PROTECT WICKLESHAM QUARRY is STANDING UP AGAINST:- * Misuse of the neighbourhood planning system; * Opportunist development that serves developers but not local people or the environment; * Disregard of planning conditions for the Sustainable Use of Minerals and the Local Plan. We have also asked Oxfordshire County Council for full disclosure of all minerals extractions sites and their planning conditions, as well as how many sites with conditions for restoration have been granted (or are seeking) permission for alternative uses that do NOT accord with Minerals and Waste Policies to "restore and enhance biodiversity" and "“provide for restoration and aftercare at the earliest opportunity to be carried out to high environmental standards, through the application of appropriate conditions, where necessary.” We value the loyal support of everyone who has signed the petition, and thank everyone who continues to contact us. Our email address for any queries is protectwicklesham@gmail.com. WICKLESHAM COMMUNITY FUND HAS BEEN SET UP FOR DONATIONS TO HELP US TO CONTINUE THE FIGHT. Please email for details of how to make a contribution. Please carry on sharing and promoting the petition and updates with friends and neighbours. We think the day may be approaching when we may have to deliver our petition to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when we shall ask our supporters to join us.