Stop Wicklesham Quarry SSSI from becoming a logistics site  

Hundreds of people have signed my online petition to Protect Wicklesham Quarry from Development. Wicklesham Quarry lies outside Faringdon in Oxfordshire in an area of high landscape value, the Corallian Ridge. Natural England calls it "one of Britain's richest palaeontological sites". 

It has over 150 "very rich and unusual species" of fossils, many of which are found nowhere else. Its naturalised ponds have breeding colonies of Great Crested Newts, a European Protected Species, as well as toads, smooth and palmate newts. It is part of West Oxfordshire Heights Conservation Target Area, hosting Priority Habitat, and Wicklesham tetrad has ELEVEN rare plant species*. Planning conditions state it must be restored to agricultural use, and four independent reviews** have found that turning Wicklesham into an industrial site is unjustified and/ or unsustainable. 

Since quarrying finished in 2010, it has been used to store imported sand and gravel (shown in the top photo), in order to avoid restoring it. The Vale of White Horse District Council has rejected the landowner's bids to include it in the Local Plan as an industrial site since 2008, saying it is "well in excess" of Faringdon's needs to 2027. However, Faringdon Council supports the landowner's aim to turn Wicklesham Quarry into a 20 acre industrial warehousing site, and has included it in the Neighbourhood Plan for (B2/ B8) warehousing.

A logistics site stretching alongside the A420 at Faringdon would create a development corridor bringing 24 hour HGV traffic onto this already busy road. It would create urban sprawl in open countryside and destroy the town's valued landscape setting. Faringdon's unique and irreplaceable site of geo and biodiversity would be lost for ever under warehouses. 

If Wicklesham Quarry SSSI cannot be protected, then no nationally designated site is safe.  

The next steps

I need your help to bring a Judicial Review.  

I need to raise £10,000 in order to apply for a Judicial Review by 25th October, with a stretch target of £16,500 once the application is granted. This includes the court fee, preparation and submission of documents, an application hearing and full hearing. It also allows for restricted costs under the Aarhus agreement.

I strongly believe that the Neighbourhood Plan does not meet the Basic Conditions required in law. Barrister Pavlos Eleftheriadis of FTB chambers, and solicitor Linda Felton of Fortune Green Legal Practice will be representing me. This case has unique aspects and will set legal precedents. 

This is what my barrister says:

"The case raises many important points of principle of environmental justice. It will allow the court to examine how far a Neighbourhood Plan can depart from the strategic choices of the broader Local Plan, what effect a Biodiversity Action Plan has on planning policy, how exactly environmental assessment informs such a process, as well as the role and weight of restoration and aftercare obligations when quarrying operations come to an end."  

I hope my case will help other communities trying to protect the environment and prevent quarrying being used as a back-door for industrialising the countryside. 

Since 2014 local people have campaigned to Protect Wicklesham Quarry from Development using our own resources. Aimee Harris raised £47 for leaflets and a poster that I displayed on market day with a petition, and in Faringdon public library. Thanks to Aimee, dozens of people heard about the campaign and signed up to support it. 

Wicklesham Quarry lies at the centre of a network of footpaths, bridleways and viewing points which connect Faringdon to the surrounding countryside. It is the key to understanding Faringdon's historic landscape setting and coral limestone architecture, mid-way between the chalk downs of the Ridgeway and the Upper Thames, on an ancient coral reef.

The famous 'Faringdon fossils'

Wicklesham Quarry's fossils have been in museum collections since 1699, making it one of the earliest documented palaeontological sites in Britain. It is a "type site", which means Faringdon has given its name to Faringdon fossils, the Faringdon Greensands, and Faringdon Sponge Gravels - reflecting the Quarry's unique geology.

Climate change science

SSSI sites like Wicklesham Quarry are part of our shared natural heritage, an educational resource, as well as being living laboratories for scientists. They may even have a contribution to make towards our own survival on earth. Recently, fossil Foraminifera have come to play a key role in climate change science. In 1986, M. A. Wilson discovered one new genus and three new species of Foraminifera at Wicklesham Quarry! 

With your help, I believe I can succeed in protecting the rare, natural diversity and scientific assets of Wicklesham Quarry for future generations. Please help me save this unique site before it is too late! 

Thank you for reading my appeal.

* C. D. Preston, D. A. Pearman & T. D. Dines, eds. (2002): New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora.     Oxford: Oxford University Press.        (Supported by DEFRA)

** URS Ltd Employment Land Reviews 2008 & 2013; The Vale of White Horse District Council Core Strategy 'Preferred Options' Consultation and Review 2009; Faringdon Neighbourhood Plan Sustainability Scoping Report & Sustainability Appraisal  2014.