On Monday 3rd June at 2.00pm the Planning and Regulation Committee will decide whether to grant Grundon's application to be let off their planning conditions to carry out the restoration of the quarry according to the plans. If you can come along to support Wicklesham Quarry SSSI against this travesty, it would be great to see you there! The venue is County Hall, New Road, Oxford at 2.00pm.

We shall show Councillors photographs of the ponds taken by monitoring officers- before and after the wholesale destruction carried out in 2016 - and urge them to reject this application. Local people totally reject the "emperor's new ponds" fiction still being promoted by Council Officers, who last year showed elected members drawings of non-existent ponds on the original plans, apparently seeking to pull the wool over their eyes. We will remind Councillors that the Ecologist's report in 2018 stated:

"“These ponds are mainly dry, and … they will be unlikely to form substantial water bodies as shown on the approved restoration plan without further intervention.” "I would be reluctant to accept an altered restoration plan with less habitat, in terms of habitat quality or area. The current situation... is not of a comparable quality with properly restored pond.”  

We shall present evidence of Grundon's failure to seek a licence from Natural England for over a year after they had been ordered to carry out the restoration- concealing the destruction from Natural England until it was too late. Not until a Breach of Conditions Notice was served did they reluctantly apply for a licence. And we shall present evidence of the private meeting in June 2016 between the landowner's agent's and Council Officers, still trying to avoid carrying out the restoration ordered six months earlier. Not long after, the ponds were destroyed.  

This may be the last opportunity we have to try to prevent the loss of Wicklesham Quarry's rare and fragile biodiversity. Please come along and let Councillors see our concern and support for this important, threatened site.

If you can't make it on Monday and would like to see the presentation that will be made at County Hall on Monday 3rd June, please drop an email to protectwicklesham@gmail.com and I shall send it to you.

Thank you for your continued support, and I look forward to seeing you on Monday.