Another set of documents submitted by the applicant means a further chance to have your say by 19 December. PLEASE KEEP YOUR OBJECTIONS COMING IN!  If you voted for Faringdon Neighbourhood Plan, YOUR COMMENTS ARE ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT. Signing the petition is not enough- PLEASE MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD & LET COUNCIL OFFICERS KNOW WHY YOU HAVE CHANGED YOUR MIND. Below are some of the many concerns local people have raised. The 'principle of development' may seem technical, but it is especially important and essential to point out the numerous conflicts with local and national policy.

• What's changed? NO PROVISION FOR ON SITE PARKING

The LATEST application for a development of over 29,500 sqm contains NO provision for on-site parking. Two multi-storey car parks have been replaced by habitat features in response to objections by officers and official respondents. This is merely an empty gesture, just like the Restoration itself. Read more here: https://www.change.org/p/the-vale-of-white-horse-district-council-and-secretary-of-state-michael-gove-protect-wicklesham-quarry-from-development/u/32934170

• THE ‘PRINCIPLE OF DEVELOPMENT’- OUR RESPONSE 

The applicants seek to justify the proposal using the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the District Council’s Local Plan, the Minerals and Waste Local Plan, and Faringdon Neighbourhood Plan. (See Biogenia Planning Design and Access Statement Part 3 (1) on the County Council’s Planning Portal.) The applicants fail to acknowledge fundamental policy conflicts in ALL areas of planning policy. KEY GROUNDS FOR OBJECTION are summarised below.

(1) OXFORDSHIRE MINERALS & WASTE LOCAL PLAN (OWWLP) POLICY M10

Wicklesham’s planning conditions for Restoration and Aftercare for use for agriculture were determined in accordance with Policy M10, Restoration of mineral workings. This proposal is IN CONFLICT with most of its provisions.

The restoration and after-use of mineral workings must take into account:

• the characteristics of the site prior to mineral working;
• the character of the surrounding landscape and the enhancement of local landscape character;
• the amenity of local communities, including opportunities to enhance green infrastructure provision and provide for local amenity uses and recreation;
• the capacity of the local transport network;
• the quality of any agricultural land affected, including the restoration of best and most versatile agricultural land;
• flood risk and opportunities for increased flood storage capacity;
• the impacts on flooding and water quality of any use of imported material in the proposed restoration;
• any environmental enhancement objectives for the area;
• the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity appropriate to the local area, supporting the establishment of a coherent and resilient ecological network through the landscape-scale creation of priority habitat;
• the conservation and enhancement of geodiversity.

OBJECTIONS

(1) Wicklesham Quarry is a nationally designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) of over 29 acres. It would be substantially obliterated. Natural England has admitted that almost the whole of the SSSI would be denotified – i.e. lost- if it were built on. (This has already happened to Coxwell Pit, which was used as a waste tip and mostly buried, leaving only a third of the height of one original quarry wall.) The Palaeontological Association, “one of the world's leading learned societies in palaeontology”, has urged Oxfordshire County Council to reject the proposal. The Association states “new permanent structures would prevent access to the quarry base and effectively put an end to any future research, teaching, and educational use.” “There is much to learn about this unique locality. It has an exceptional place in the history of science, and the quarry, including the base, must remain accessible for future researchers and educators in geology, geosciences, and palaeobiology.” Read more here: https://www.change.org/p/the-vale-of-white-horse-district-council-and-secretary-of-state-michael-gove-protect-wicklesham-quarry-from-development/u/33040407

(2) Wicklesham Quarry is part of West Oxfordshire Heights Conservation Target Area.* TVERC’s Biodiversity Report lists over 30 Priority Species including birds, bats, terrestrial mammals and amphibians. The proposed development is incompatible with the Quarry’s importance for biodiversity. The applicants admit that it would be an urban extension of Faringdon, and that the Conservation Target Area ‘contains no urban land’. (You can see the whole of TVERC’s Report in 8th Consultation Reps Redacted on OCC’s Planning Portal- link below.)

(3) Wicklesham Quarry’s aquifer is essential to the wildlife.The applicants have FAILED TO ACKNOWLEDGE the existence of the aquifer, or the important impacts of flooding for numerous species. (The landowner has written that the base of the quarry would be ‘built up’ to prevent flooding. This would obliterate the habitat of many Priority Species, bury the exposed walls of the SSSI, and FAIL TO prevent flooding.)

(4) Severe negative impacts on the local transport network. Technical Note 5 (Jan 25) admits that ALL key local junctions at Coxwell Road, Fernham Road, and London Road would fail within the next 3 years, and severe congestion would occur in Faringdon itself. The proposal assumes that roads would be widened, the roundabout increased to 2 lanes, and the A420 westbound would be dualled between Stanford Road and Park Road- although none of these is likely to happen.  See earlier update for details: https://www.change.org/p/the-vale-of-white-horse-district-council-and-secretary-of-state-michael-gove-protect-wicklesham-quarry-from-development/u/33568963

• THE PROPOSAL IS IN CONFLICT WITH POLICY M10 FOR THE RESTORATION OF MINERAL WORKINGS, and WITH WICKLESHAM QUARRY’S PLANNING CONDITIONS FOR RESTORATION AND AFTERUSE FOR AGRICULTURE AND BIODIVERSITY.

2) NATIONAL PLANNING POLICY FRAMEWORK AND PLANNING PRACTICE GUIDANCE

• NOT ‘SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT’- NPPF Paragraphs 11 & 13

(i) Paragraph 11 of the NPPF states that there is no 'presumption in favour of sustainable development' in relation to a nationally designated site - a SSSI. 

(ii) Paragraph 13 of the NPPF explains the ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’ in relation to neighbourhood planning:

‘The application of the presumption has implications for the way communities engage in neighbourhood planning. Neighbourhood plans should support the delivery of strategic policies contained in local plans or spatial development strategies; and should shape and direct development that is OUTSIDE OF THESE STRATEGIC POLICIES.'

In 2017 The High Court ruled that Faringdon Neighbourhood Plan FAILED to meet the ‘basic conditions’ and therefore the decision to send it to referendum in 2016 by the Vale of White Horse District Council could not lawfully be made. Policy 4.5B, the judge stated, was “in manifest conflict” with Local Plan policy preventing urban development outside the town. The proposal is in conflict with the NPPF.

• PLANNING PRACTICE GUIDANCE states:

(i) ‘A draft neighbourhood plan or Order must be in general conformity with the strategic policies of the development plan in force if it is to meet the basic conditions.’  Para 009
(ii) ‘Only a draft neighbourhood Plan or Order that meets each of a set of basic conditions can be put to a referendum and be made’.  Para 065

OBJECTIONS

• The neighbourhood plan policy is IN CONFLICT with the National Planning Policy Framework (para 13, & para 11) and IN CONFLICT with Planning Practice Guidance (para 009, para 065).
• The Neighbourhood Plan FAILED to meet the BASIC CONDITIONS, was unlawfully adopted, and is in conflict with the NPPF definition of SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.

(3) THE LOCAL PLAN 2031

As the Vale of White Horse District Council has stated to Oxfordshire County Council, Wicklesham Quarry is OUTSIDE the Development Boundary of Faringdon. The Development Boundary is Strategic Policy CP4, shown on the Adopted Policies Map 2019.  It is on the NORTHERN side of the A420 Faringdon bypass. (Read more here: https://www.change.org/p/the-vale-of-white-horse-district-council-and-secretary-of-state-michael-gove-protect-wicklesham-quarry-from-development/u/33964346

The proposed development, which would obliterate most of the Site of Special Scientific Interest, is also in conflict with Strategic Policy CP46 CONSERVATION AND IMPROVEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY.

OBJECTIONS

• Faringdon Neighbourhood Plan is in conflict with the strategic policies and Spatial Strategy of the Local Plan (CP4, CP46).
• Planning Practice Guidance paragraph 070 states:

“PARAGRAPH 13 OF THE NATIONAL PLANNING POLICY FRAMEWORK IS CLEAR THAT NEIGHBOURHOOD PLANS SHOULD SUPPORT THE DELIVERY OF STRATEGIC POLICIES CONTAINED IN LOCAL PLANS AND SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES. QUALIFYING BODIES SHOULD PLAN POSITIVELY TO SUPPORT LOCAL DEVELOPMENT, SHAPING AND DIRECTING DEVELOPMENT IN THEIR AREA THAT IS OUTSIDE THESE STRATEGIC POLICIES.” 

Please get in touch with any comments or queries. You can now see Wicklesham Quarry’s key Biodiversity  Documents – including the Enzygo Report and TVERC Biodiversity Report - in full on Oxfordshire County Council’s Planning Portal, as we submitted them in the last consultation (8th Consultation Reps Redacted) – in Rep 4. https://myeplanning.oxfordshire.gov.uk/Planning/Display/MW.0151/23#undefined

Email: protectwicklesham@gmail.com

*Wicklesham Quarry’s importance for biodiversity has been consistently concealed and denied by Faringdon Council and by the applicants. The neighbourhood plan wrongly claims Wicklesham Quarry is a ‘brownfield ‘site. It fails to state the Quarry is part of the Conservation Target Area, fails to acknowledge the existence of Priority Habitat and Species, and fails to acknowledge the negative impacts on the SSSI. (Faringdon Council has also failed to hand over its communications with Natural England following a Request for Information.)