After over two years of repeated amendments to the application- which now has NO PARKING PROVISIONS for a development of over 29,500 sqM - Oxfordshire County Councillors will decide the future of Wicklesham Quarry SSSI in the Planning Committee meeting on Monday 19th January 2.00pm.

PLEASE COME ALONG ON MONDAY and show support for this internationally famous, incredible, unique site, and for the local people who have been fighting to save it from destruction for over TEN YEARS.

Wicklesham Quarry has almost five thousand supporters from Faringdon and the western Vale, Oxford and across the county and beyond. We hope to see as many of you as possible on Monday at County Hall, 4 New Road, Oxford OX1 1ND. (Please remember Botley Road is closed, and the nearest Park & Ride is Redbridge, Abingdon Road.)

This is a crucial moment for one of the UK’s most important Geological Conservation Review Sites and Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Objections to this planning application have been submitted by the Geological Society, the Palaeontological Association, international experts and a UNESCO Adviser on Geoheritage, as well as four parish councils and hundreds of local residents.

The application is riddled with deliberate misinformation by the applicants.

The updated application form in April 2025 (which, curiously, has been removed from the website) asks:

IS YOUR PROPOSAL WITHIN 20 METRES OF A WATER COURSE?      

The applicants state ‘NO’. In fact, as they are well aware, it is right on top of a water course! 

The applicant’s Ecology Report (every version of it) ALSO has a blind spot when it comes to the aquifer – and never refers to it once, in spite of the fact that Wicklesham was flooded across almost half its base from December 2024 to May 2025, and the existence of the aquifer is shown in the District Council’s flood map and referred to 3 TIMES in the Ground Conditions Report. 

Many of TVERC’s Biodiversity Report’s over 30 PRIORITY SPECIES are linked to the quarry’s rare ecology, including amphibians, birds, insects and mammals such as water voles and even otters. The Biodiversity Report is yet another ‘detail’ conveniently missing from the applicant’s documents.

OXFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL OFFICERS APPEAR TO HAVE FORGOTTEN THEIR OWN POLICIES! According to Mr David Periam’s report to Councillors, Minerals and Waste policies are IRRELEVANT because the Quarry has been restored and is basically ripe for development, in his view. He must have forgotten Paragraph 4.75 of the Minerals and Waste Local Plan, which states:

“long-term maintenance of the after-use and enhancement of the environment … should accord with District Local Plan policies”, and Core Policy M10:

“Mineral workings shall be restored to an after-use that is appropriate to the location [and] must take into account: the characteristics of the site prior to mineral working; the character of the surrounding landscape and enhancement of the local landscape character”

The word here is AFTER-USE, Mr Periam! It is clear that the ‘long-term afteruse’ IS a matter for Minerals and Waste Authority policies, and that pretending ‘afteruse for agriculture’ is no different from industrial/ commercial development is totally disingenuous.

Wicklesham Quarry IS NOT and NEVER HAS BEEN an ‘industrial’ site- as the applicants called it, or a ‘brownfield site’ as Faringdon Council describes it in its Neighbourhood Plan. Quarrying is a temporary, sui generis land use with dedicated polices that MUST follow Government Guidance.

MINERALS EXTRACTION IS NOT A TROJAN HORSE FOR DEVELOPMENT and in this case, Wicklesham Quarry is Faringdon’s most important environmental site, a nationally designated SSSI and an internationally important Conservation Review Site. It is also OUTSIDE the town's DEVELOPMENT BOUNDARY on the Midvale Ridge, and this application is IN CONFLICT with the Strategic Policies of the Local Plan- as is Faringdon neighbourhood plan that the High Court ruled 'failed to meet the Basic Conditions'.

Will County Councillors see through the numerous misrepresentations, glaring omissions and outright lies, and make the right decision? 

Please come to the Committee meeting on Monday at 2.00pm and lend us your support. We look forward to seeing you!

Please get in touch with any comments or questions: protectwicklesham@gmail.com