The public response to the consultation which ended on 21st August was OVERWHELMING OPPOSITION to the destruction of Faringdon’s most important environmental site. This reflects every consultation since July 2023. More than 4,800 Wicklesham supporters will continue to defend this irreplaceable site.
You can read 30 pages of condemnation of the proposal to obliterate Faringdon’s internationally famous Site of Special Scientific Interest on Oxfordshire County Council’s Planning Portal: https://myeplanning.oxfordshire.gov.uk/Planning/Display/MW.0151/23#undefined (Click the arrow for documents ‘both’ and ‘date added’ to put the latest responses at the top).
Natural England has stated that almost the whole site of over 29 acres would be DE-LISTED if it were built over. This is the only remaining site known where scientists can carry out field research into the amazing Faringdon Sponge Gravels. New scientific research requires access to the base itself, as sampling from the walls of the SSSI is not permitted. In an interview with the I paper, Professor Mark Wilson has described the Faringdon Sponge Gravels as ‘scientifically priceless’ (see link below).
All that remains of Coxwell Pit, the smaller part of the SSSI, is a short section of one quarry wall. Even that has been largely buried, as Coxwell pit was used for many years as a waste dump. Two thirds of the quarry wall now lie buried beneath old car tyres and interiors. This vandalism was carried out AFTER Wicklesham and Coxwell Pits were listed as a SSSI in 1950. Incredibly, some fossils that occurred at Coxwell Pit were different from those of Wicklesham - even though they are less than a quarter of a mile apart. Access for new research on Coxwell Pit’s fossils is lost for ever.
Both pits were once important destinations for fascinated members of the public and amateur geologists. In 1913 an ‘Excursion to Faringdon’ describes plans for a trip to Wicklesham and Coxwell Pits, starting from Paddington Station (see illustration). Members are advised to ‘bring lunch’ in preparation for a day of collecting the ‘beautifully preserved’ fossils of Wicklesham and Coxwell Pits, followed by a visit to Cole’s Pits and a ‘meat tea’ costing ‘1/6d’ at the White Hart, Faringdon. Members are advised there are ‘several views worth photographing, especially of the White Horse Hill’.
Many Faringdon residents have also spoken of the excitement of their childhood visits to Wicklesham Quarry (before the bypass was built), where they would collect fossils, fish for newts, and watch the amazing wildlife. It was the favourite destination of generations of children from Faringdon and the Coxwells. Now, we are fighting to preserve its very existence.
Only 2 responses in the latest consultation are in favour of the development. One is easily recognizable as the local estate agent who was a member of Faringdon Neighbourhood Plan Employment Land Group. His role was to ensure the neighbourhood plan reflected his client’s interests - that is, the owner of Wicklesham Quarry. It was this agent who requested a secret meeting with County Council Officers in 2016 to ask them to lift the planning conditions (see link to earlier update#). There were 2 reasons why this was so important.
- The landowner had no intention of restoring the quarry or returning it to agriculture. For ten years annual applications were made to allow Wicklesham Quarry to be used for storing and selling IMPORTED sand and gravel. It was NOT a working quarry. During that time, the ponds matured and wildlife re-established itself, including breeding colonies of Great Crested Newts. The huge piles of gravel were a façade and a delay tactic, while the landowner and his cronies on Faringdon council continued to badger the District Council, as they had done since 2008, to allow the quarry to be used as an industrial site.
- Faringdon Council, the landowner and his agent KNEW that Wicklesham Quarry was NOT A BROWN FIELD SITE because of the planning conditions. They were unable to get the planning conditions lifted- but told people it was a brownfield site anyway! This lie, which is contained in the Basic Conditions Statement, constitutes a very serious attempted deception.
We believe this claim was probably also made in communications from Faringdon Council to Natural England –which Faringdon Council has failed to produce after a Request for Information under Environmental Regulations.
This is not the first time Faringdon Council has failed to produce potentially incriminating records relating to the Neighbourhood Plan for which it was responsible. A request for minutes of the Employment Land Group also met with stone-walling. Every failure to meet its duties of honesty, transparency and accountability to the public is further corroboration of misconduct in public office.* Almost 5,000 people are now watching this story. As further details are revealed – of fraudulent reports and false statements in the neighbourhood plan, dishonest claims by the applicants, and individuals claiming to serve the public while lining their own pockets – many local people are increasingly angry that the people they trusted conned them.
If you are one of the 940 people who voted for Faringdon neighbourhood plan, and you now regret your vote, it is not too late to write and explain your views to Case Officer, Mary Hudson: planning @oxfordshire.gov.uk. All public communications on MW.0151/23 will remain anonymous. YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR BY SPEAKING OUT.
* ‘This offence, defined by Attorney General's Reference (No 3 of 2003) [2004] EWCA Crim 868, involves the wilful neglect or misconduct by a public officer, leading to an abuse of public trust without reasonable excuse.’
The Nolan Principles can be read here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-7-principles-of-public-life/the-7-principles-of-public-life--2