At a meeting of Faringdon Town Council on Monday a local resident urged Councillors to take responsibility for preserving Wicklesham Quarry SSSI for future generations, and face up to past mistakes. In the wake of his moving and powerful statement, the following letter has been sent to every member of Faringdon Town Council.

Dear Councillor,
At Monday's Town Council meeting Councillor Wise contradicted a Faringdon resident who stated that the quarry was not a brownfield site, and should never have been described as such in the Basic Conditions Statement of the Neighbourhood Plan. Councillor Wise denied that this was the case.
May I point out that the Basic Conditions Statement (as submitted for Inspection and on your own website) claims to 'demonstrate conformity with the NPPF' (National Planning Policy Framework), because 'The FNP must have regard to national policy and guidance'. On Page 9 is the following:

National Planning Policy Framework Core Planning Principle 8 
Planning should encourage the effective use of land by reusing land that has been previously developed (brownfield land), provided that it is not of high environmental value. 

Faringdon Neighbourhood Plan Response [includes]

..... in Section 5 Local Jobs is the allocation of two worked out quarries for employment use. Rogers Quarry is allocated as employment land as is Wicklesham Quarry. The latter is specified in Policy 4.5B: Wicklesham Quarry for B2/B8 use with various caveats (the quarry walls are a SSSI) rather than returning it to agricultural use.

The resident's statement was correct, and Councillor Wise was wrong. A further inaccuracy above is the statement that 'the walls' are a SSSI. Actually the whole quarry including the base is a SSSI.
Since Councillors appear not to know what the High Court judgment contained, may I add that the High Court stated that the neighbourhood plan:
* was wrong to describe Wicklesham Quarry as a brownfield site
* was not permitted to make provisions for a County Matter as it is 'excluded development' for a neighbourhood plan
 * was in conflict with the Local Plan because the quarry is outside the development boundary.

All these key points of the case, relating to the Basic Conditions, were upheld. With regard to the policy being an unlawful provision for a County Matter, the Court ordered that the 12 month Restoration Plan and 5 year Agricultural Aftercare Programme must be carried out. These remain in 2023 Oxfordshire County Council's Planning Conditions for Wicklesham Quarry, and are consistent with the NPPF provisions for the Sustanable Use of Minerals.

Many local people are also now aware of Wicklesham Quarry's status as part of a Conservation Target Area and as a Priority Habitat for Great Crested Newts, a European Protected Species. However the neighbourhood plan sent to referendum and Inspection failed to include this critical information.
 
I am therefore in complete agreement with the resident who stated that people who voted in the referendum were misled- very seriously misled. He stated that responsibility for the present shameful situation lies squarely with all Town Councillors. It cannot simply be delegated to a planning sub-committee, including a Councillor who played a central role in the serious errors, mis-statements and omissions of the neighbourhood plan, and in its unlawful attempt to overturn County Council policies and planning conditions. 

The current proposal for seven 25 metre high buildings, two multi-storey carparks, including a data centre, are nothing less than catastrophic for the future of Faringdon's internationally famous SSSI, and for its vulnerable, endangered species. This is Faringdon's most important ecological and scientific site and it must be preserved for future generations.

Over 1700 people have signed the Petition to Protect Wicklesham Quarry From Development. On their behalf I urge ALL Town Councillors to put right the mistakes of the past and disown this policy which threatens our most important and endangered site. Please, do the right thing for Wicklesham Quarry, the local environment, and for local people. 
Yours sincerely,

Anna Hoare
 
 
 
 
 
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