WICKLESHAM SUPPORTERS! Please help to get our voices heard once again! Let's make sure ALL our elected councillors know about Wicklesham Quarry SSSI. The letter below is addressed to the Vale District Council Chief Executive, Mark Stone. The message is the same one we sent LAST WEEK to Oxfordshire County Council Chief, Martin Reeves: NO PLANNING PROCESS WITHOUT AN EIA FOR WICKLESHAM QUARRY SSSI! Please copy the letter below into an email and send to:
Mark Stone, Chief Executive, Executivesupportsav@southandvale.gov.uk
and CC -
- adrian.duffield@southandvale.gov.uk
- Bethia.Thomas@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
- lucy.edwards@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
- katherine.foxhall@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
- viral.patel@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
- mark.coleman@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
- sue.caul@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
Remember to sign your name & include contact information. Here's the letter:
Mr Mark Stone, Chief Executive, Vale of White Horse District Council, Abbey House, Abbey Close, Abingdon OX14 3JE
Your email address & date
Dear Mr Stone,
I am outraged by the opinion given by your Planning Department in March 2023 that no Environmental Impact Assessment is required in connection with a proposal for a major industrial infrastructure project at Wicklesham Quarry SSSI, near Faringdon. This site is a major environmental asset.
- A Site of Special Scientific Interest & Geological Conservation Review Site
- Part of West Oxfordshire Heights Conservation Target Area
- Within the Mid-Vale Ridge National Character Area
- Has Priority Habitat – ponds
- A breeding habitat for a European Protected Species- Great Crested Newts
Wicklesham Quarry is also:
- Outside the development boundary of Faringdon
- Designated agricultural land, in agricultural use
- Not allocated for industrial/ employment use in the Local Plan
- Repeatedly rejected by the Vale of White Horse District Council for employment use, most recently in 2016
- Has undergone 12 months restoration and four years Agricultural Aftercare in accordance with planning conditions.
In 2017 Faringdon neighbourhood plan’s policy to ‘safeguard’ Wicklesham Quarry SSSI for employment use was the subject of a Judicial Review. The High Court judgment states:
“Neither the examiner nor the District Council were lawfully satisfied that the FNP satisfied the basic condition that the making of the plan was in general conformity with the strategic policies contained in the development plan”.
For all these reasons I consider that failure to require a full Environmental Impact Assessment for any development proposal on this site would be a gross dereliction of your responsibilities.
The Vale Planning Department terminated a planning process for this proposal on 21 July 2023, after more than eighty submissions had been made by the public, on the grounds that it involved a county matter, i.e. planning conditions for agricultural aftercare. It is clear that such a proposal does not fall within the County Council’s remit for Minerals and Waste Planning Applications, and I have written to Chief Executive, Martin Reeves, to say that I consider any determination made by the County Council on a planning application for this proposal will be subject to legal challenge. Please will you confirm the following: -
- any future planning application relating to Wicklesham Quarry SSSI to the Vale Planning Department will require a full Environmental Impact Assessment
- the District Council is responsible for determining planning applications involving industrial infrastructure proposals.
I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
Regards,
your name
CC Adrian Duffield, Head of Planning
Bethia Thomas, Council Leader
Lucy Edwards, Faringdon
Katherine Foxhall, Shrivenham, Coxwells etc
Viral Patel, Shrivenham, Coxwells etc
Mark Coleman, Deputy Leader
Sue Caul, Stanford in the Vale