In an email to a Faringdon resident, Head of Strategic Planning, Nicholas Perrins writes that there is “no legal requirement to publish representations received on a planning application”.  I have written to Oxfordshire County Council Chief Executive, Martin Reeves, to say that it is unacceptable for comments by members of the public to be swept under the rug in the planning process on Wicklesham Quarry SSSI. Members of the public wish to read ALL submissions on the website- as they are entitled to - and want to see HOW MANY LOCAL PEOPLE deplore Faringdon Council's policy to concrete over Faringdon's most important environmental site.

County Councillors who will be deciding this application (we assume) also need to be able to read the public’s comments IN FULL on the website, not just summaries edited by council officers. The whole purpose of the e-planning website is to facilitate public participation and transparency. However, it appears that a culture of secrecy and suppression pervades the Soviet State of Oxfordshire County Councl.

In an email to me from Oxfordshire County Council, Senior Planning Officer Mary Hudson advises that submissions from members of the public should/might be available to read on the e-planning website 'by the end of next week' AFTER THEY HAVE BEEN REDACTED. This is confirmed in Mr Perrins’ email, which states that if/when the County Council decides to make the public’s submissions available, “personal details will be removed.”

I have replied to Ms Hudson to say 'DON'T REDACT ME!’ I believe this would be a misuse of Data Protection regulations, and that making our voices heard in a planning process also means our names should be visible- as the website itself states. For one thing, I would like to see how many Faringdon Councillors have found the courage to speak out against their own appalling neighbourhood plan policy to allocate Wicklesham Quarry as industrial land, which they know is in conflict with the Local Plan. We need to know whose comment we are reading! 

DON'T REDACT ME!

If you wish to tell the County Council that you DO NOT WANT TO BE REDACTED, send an email to Nicholas Perrins, Head of Strategic Planning, email: E&PDirectorsCorrespondence@Oxfordshire.gov.uk, and copy to Mary.Hudson@oxfordshire.gov.uk.

If you have any comments or queries, please get in touch at: protectwicklesham@gmail.com