Above: Wicklesham Farm (in pink) south of the A420 has been submitted for development in the District Council's 'Call for Land'. (Almost the same size as Faringdon.)
The close relationship between Faringdon Council, the owners of Wicklesham Farm and their agents dates back twenty years. Council Minutes prove it (see below) - and the image above demonstates the long-term aim- to build on the whole of Wicklesham Farm. While claiming it is for the benefit of the town, Faringdon Council has colluded with local landowners ambitious to reap multi-million pound profits by turning farmland into urban development land – even at the cost of destroying the town’s most important environmental site and decimating the town centre. It has already led to unplanned development for which the town centre is paying a heavy price, with many small businesses having failed.
Local people have seen a pattern of behaviour in which the planning system has been exploited for financial gain. There is now an urgent need for action and vigilance.
ACTION – by opposing the current planning application (see link below) to turn Wicklesham Quarry SSSI into an urban extension of Faringdon. Wicklesham Farm’s owners intend the rest of the farm to follow - an area the size of Faringdon south of the A420, which has already been put forward for development in the ‘Call for Land’.
VIGILANCE – by taking part, watching, and questioning every step of Faringdon Council’s upcoming Review of the Neighbourhood Plan- and making sure that Wicklesham Quarry SSSI is NOT included in it.
Faringdon Council Minutes in July 2006 record their Planning Chair’s boast that they had ‘put pressure’ on the Vale District Council to allow a ‘big increase in the employment land available’ in the 2011 Local Plan. The Town Council had complained that the draft Local Plan ‘provided nothing extra for Faringdon’ – using exactly the same words Faringdon Council recently reiterated in its comments to Oxfordshire County Council. That complaint led to the 10 acre 4&20 site at the end of Park Road being included in the Local Plan as employment land. It remained empty for TEN YEARS – proving there was NO demand for this ‘big increase’. However, being included in the Local Plan meant an enormous price ticket had been placed on this land, because it was now open to unplanned, more profitable development.
‘EMPLOYMENT LAND’- THE GOLDEN PRICE TICKET
In 2015 the owner of the 4&20 site sought consent (through Geoffrey Spencer-Cooper) to turn it into a retail park and hotel, claiming it was not needed as employment land. She was only able to do this BECAUSE of the ‘employment land’ status granted in the 2011 Local Plan. This acted as a stepping stone for a use that never would have been permitted otherwise.
THE NOLAN PRINCIPLES FOR STANDARDS IN PUBLIC LIFE
This exploitation of the planning system – enabled and supported by Faringdon Council - looks even more cynical and troubling, when you realize that the same landowner was simultaneously promoting Wicklesham Quarry, owned by her brother, for employment use, this time, using the Neighbourhood Plan - even though it had been repeatedly rejected by the District Council. Her actions and role were a blatant breach of the Nolan Principles, which came into law in the 2011 Localism Act, the same legislation that introduced neighbourhood planning.
The Code of Conduct S.27 (1) introduced the ‘Duty to promote and maintain high standards of conduct’ ‘by members and co-opted members of the authority’. These include the Steering Group of a neighbourhood plan. These ‘high standards of conduct’ must include:-
- selflessness
- integrity
- objectivity
- accountability
- openness
- honesty
- leadership
It is patently obvious that the role of local landowners acting on their own behalf using Faringdon Neighbourhood Plan was in breach of the standards of conduct imposed by the Localism Act. It was blatantly dishonest. This fact makes it even more important for local people to scrutinise the review of the neighbourhood plan that Faringdon Council intends to carry out.
THE LONG-TERM PLAN: ‘PUT PRESSURE ON THE DISTRICT COUNCIL AGAIN’
The plan for Wicklesham Quarry was also discussed ‘in depth’ in July 2006- demonstrating that this was a long-term plan involving Faringdon Council, the owners of Wicklesham Farm, (including Wicklesham Quarry and the 4&20 site) – as well as local land agents and members of the Chamber of Commerce.
Councillors stated that ‘pressure should be put on the District Council planners to change the local plan again’ – to include Wicklesham Quarry as well as the 4&20 site. This time, ‘it was agreed there was a need to employ a planning consultancy’ and ‘to demonstrate considerable pressure by the current employers to progress this possibility’. The Chair of the Planning Committee was already at work on this. He states that ‘the land agent acting on behalf of the landowner would progress this matter and report back to the Town Council’.
In other words, from 2006 Faringdon Town Council was willing to go all out – using paid consultants, local land agents, employers and members of the Chamber of Commerce – to back up a manufactured claim that Wicklesham Quarry was ‘needed’ for employment use – even though there was NO EVIDENCE to suggest ANY NEED for additional employment land. This was proved ten years later when the 4&20 site was turned into a retail park, based on the landowner’s claim that there was ‘no demand’ for it.
LOCAL PEOPLE’S QUESTIONS
Since the District Council is the strategic plan-making authority, responsible for commissioning ‘objective’ Employment Land Reviews and ensuring that sufficient land for development is available through the Local Plan – local people are asking: what exactly is the motive behind Faringdon Council’s obsession with allocating land on behalf of this family of local landowner-developers? Land that Faringdon does not need, and that has been repeatedly rejected by the District Council.
Wicklesham Quarry was rejected in Employment Land Reviews in 2008 and 2013, and rejected again in the 2016 Examination of the 2031 Local Plan. The landowner wrote his own report in 2009 promoting it for inclusion in the Local Plan – and that too was rejected.
However, Faringdon Council remains obsessively committed to supporting these developers – regardless of whatever economic and environmental damage it does to Faringdon.
THE FUTURE OF FARINGDON
Faringdon will be gravely, permanently harmed if the town loses its unique Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is Faringdon’s globally unique, SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT HISTORICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASSET, with huge potential to help revive the town’s fortunes.
A 2014 Report by Daniel Lichfield and Partners, ‘Faringdon Economic Development Strategy’ stated:
‘the profile and perception of the town to visitors is relatively poor. The Neighbourhood Plan Leisure Sub-Group believe that there needs to be a collective vision for Faringdon and a collective responsibility to present the town well, alongside opportunities to improve visitor infrastructure. This suggests that the town has the potential to enhance its tourism related economic performance’.
Of course, this sensible suggestion did not fit with Faringdon Council’s hue and cry for ‘more employment land’ on behalf of Wicklesham’s owners, and since 2016 unplanned development and the decline of the town centre have damaged its attractiveness even further.
Unless local people ACT to help save Faringdon from a fate determined by local landowners and developers, it will SOON BE TOO LATE.
Please get in touch with any comments, questions or offers of support: protectwicklesham@gmail.com
You can see planning application MW.0151/23 here: https://myeplanning.oxfordshire.gov.uk/Planning/Display/MW.0151/23#undefined