As Faringdon residents prepare to vote in the referendum on the Neighbourhood Plan on 24th November, there has been an upsurge of interest and discussion on the policy to turn Wicklesham Quarry into a (B2, B8) industrial warehousing site. Much of this is taking place on the Facebook page "I Live in the Town of Faringdon", and on Faringdon.org "News and Views" community notice board. This campaign will not be telling anyone how they should vote in the referendum- that is a personal decision. However I do want to answer a couple of questions people have asked me in recent days. 1. "Will the Application for Judicial Review be withdrawn if there is a 'No' vote to the plan?" No, because the JR challenges the lawfulness of the Vale of White Horse District Council's decision to adopt the Neighbourhood Plan following referendum. The JR will be withdrawn if VWHDC accepts that their decision was unlawful, carries out certain other required steps, and agrees to meet my legal costs. Otherwise it will proceed. There are important legal principles involved in this case that now need judicial determination. These include the rights and legal limits of neighbourhood plans, the enforceability of restoration conditions for quarries and the role of the National Planning Policy Framework, and whether planning policies must take biodiversity policies into account in decision making. 2. "If Faringdon doesn't use Wicklesham Quarry for industry, where will jobs go for all the residents in the new housing that is going to be built?" Around half the working population work in sectors that do not need or use 'employment land'. Jobs in schools, colleges, health centres, hospitals, the leisure industries, shops, hotels, restaurants, many offices, local government, construction industry, agriculture etc- do not require 'employment land'. Jobs will grow in most of these sectors in response to population growth, through demand - they do not need to be 'created' - and the land-use implications of each are very variable. Yes, they must be taken into account in planning, but do not require allocated 'employment land'. So the first point is that employment growth does not invariably have a land use implication- it depends on the sector. Some sectors use a lot of land but create few jobs- such a warehousing. 'Employment land' is for a relatively narrow range of sectors: industry, some office and warehousing/ logistics (B1, B2 & B8). What is important is that there is enough to meet the likely demands of the town in these sectors over the next 15 years, while recognizing that merely providing more and more land does not mean that people who work elsewhere in the Vale in different sectors will all of a sudden want warehousing jobs. Common sense dictates that this is not how employment works! Second, it seems to have been forgotten that the Vale employs independent consultants URS Ltd to carry out Employment Land Reviews (ELRs), and on that basis determines employment land allocations. URS Ltd has looked more than once at Wicklesham Quarry and rejected it, and VWHDC has accepted their suggested allocation for Faringdon. In the 2016 Examination of Part 1 of the Draft Local Plan 2031, Faringdon Council again objected to the proposed employment land allocation for Faringdon & said it wanted Wicklesham Quarry to be included. The Vale responded that it had "seen no persuasive evidence" to allocate Wicklesham Quarry, and this was accepted by the Examiner. Last time Faringdon Council said the town needed more employment land, the Vale agreed to add the 4&20 site to the Local Plan. The result? The site remained empty and unused, and in 2015 an application was made to develop the site for retail and housing. It is hard to avoid noticing that this site was/ is (?) owned by Sarah Allen-Stevens, sister and business partner of Wicklesham Quarry owner, Tom Allen-Stevens. Sarah sits on the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group, and Employment Land Group, and developed the evidence to justify the plan’s policies on employment land! The close connections between people, property and policies in Faringdon mean that Faringdon residents have increasingly begun to question the independence of the Neighbourhood Plan's policy for Wicklesham Quarry. I am proud to be able to say that the Campaign to Protect Wicklesham Quarry from Development has raised public awareness of the quarry’s importance for geo- and biodiversity, and support for the Campaign continues to grow in Faringdon. Any other burning issues that crop up will be addressed over the coming week if it seems necessary. Thank you for your support!