WICKLESHAM QUARRY AND WHITEWEBBS PARK
The Gods of Growth and Greed demand endless sacrifices. Both Labour and the Tories go on offering up those sacrifices, regardless of the worsening impacts on people and Nature. So, please check out this story of private sector greed, local government corruption, English Nature’s despicable dereliction of duty, and the Labour Party’s pro-growth insanity.
First, WICKLESHAM QUARRY.
This is a complicated story, but at its heart are two powerful truths: one about the integrity of nature; the other about the corruption of local politics.
Wicklesham Quarry, covering 29 acres near Faringdon in Oxfordshire, is utterly unique – both geologically and ecologically.
It’s what’s called a ‘finite site’, which means that this is the only place in the world with certain specialised, ‘scientifically priceless’ fossils, going right down to a depth of 50 metres. Both Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin were staunch supporters. As such, it’s designated as a site of special scientific interest.
At the same time, at the same time, its rich biodiversity is linked to an ‘unconfined aquifer’, of which there are only four in the whole of Southeast England.
By any definition, Wicklesham Quarry is therefore, a very, very special place.
By contrast, Faringdon Town Council is an institution more than a little tainted by the whiff of corruption.
Years ago, they went out of their way to create a Neighbourhood Plan, which opened the door to the owners of the Wicklesham site – who so despicably described it as a ‘brownfield site’ in that Plan – to bring forward a proposal for a massive industrial/commercial development. This would mean that the whole of the SSSI would be de-notified.
On 29th September this year, after an extraordinarily dogged local campaign going on for more than 12 years protesting against this monstrous stitch up, a decision was made by Oxfordshire County Council to approve the proposal. Bad smells, as in the whiff of corruption, migrating upwards. With planning officers concealing objections from the Geological Society, the Palaeontological Association and other expert respondents, and that not a single report on the biodiversity of the SSSI was submitted.
Meanwhile, English Nature has sat on its hands throughout the entire process, and done nothing. It may be going too far to suggest that English Nature has been tainted by the same whiff in this matter, but as the body which exists to protect these so-called ‘jewels in the crown’, it’s ongoing dereliction of duty in this case is quite shocking.
So, the fight is on. The decision by Oxfordshire County Council can still be overturned. Friends of Wicklesham Quarry have put together a crowdfunder to bring forward a Judicial Review of Oxfordshire County Council’s decision..
This couldn’t be more important. If it fails, and the development goes ahead, there are further plans in the pipeline for an astonishing 2,500 new houses to be built along the same Midvale Ridge – of which Wicklesham Quarry is the most outstanding feature — which was once a corral reef close to the ancient coastline of southern Britain. I kid you not!
The Gods of Growth and Greed will be well pleased by the current state of affairs. Their High Priests will have been well-rewarded, promoting their own self-interests without a care in the world, including all of those indoctrinated Ministers in the Labour Government. The vast majority of their subjects will just go along with it, as a still acceptable price to pay for ‘progress’. And a few of us will weep and rage, and get ready to fight another day.
Next up, WHITEWEBBS PARK.
‘Fighting another day’ is exactly what the Guardians of Whitewebbs Park did back in August.
Whitewebbs is a much-loved, historic park in the Green Belt of the London Borough of Enfield. In 2023, Enfield Council entered into an Agreement for Lease (covering 53 hectares, roughly half the total area) with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club (THFC). THFC rapidly banged in an application for a 16-hectare football training complex, from which the public would be completely excluded, and planning permission was swiftly granted. The Gods of Growth and Greed looked on benignly.
But Enfield Council had messed up badly. Its own Ecology Officer had objected to THFC’s claim that this development would lead to a significant biodiversity gain – despite the loss of 16 hectares of Green Belt! But that objection was not included in the submission that the Council’s Planning Officers then made to the Council Planning Committee, recommending that the development should proceed. (Still with me?!).
This only came to light when documents were provided to a local resident under the Environmental Information Regulations, at which point all hell broke out. An appeal against Enfield Council’s decision (on the grounds of lack of appropriate transparency) went to the High Court. Enfield Council tried to make out that not mentioning their own Ecology Officers objection was ‘inconsequential’– do we detect the same whiff of corruption here as with Faringdon or Oxford? – but the High Court went ahead and duly quashed the planning permission back in August.
A massive victory for the Guardians!
Or they’re probably not celebrating too enthusiastically. The developers may well appeal, and after a few junior heads have duly rolled, the Council might well stitch up another dodgy deal with Spurs. Or another application could be made – and, lo and behold, a new planning permission could be granted. The Guardians will be girding their loins, all over again, resolutely – if wearily – standing up for the community and Nature. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen, but my experience is that these bastards never give up.
And the Gods of Growth and Greed will demand nothing less.
Two tiny examples in the ongoing nightmarish devastation of the natural world.
A new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (entitled ‘Nature in the Red’, looking at the state of finance around investment in Nature) has just released an astonishing statistic. Every year, roughly $7.3 trillion is invested in destroying the natural world, compared to about $220 billion of investments in what are called ‘Nature-Based Solutions’. That’s a ratio of 30:1.
The Gods of Growth and Greed are clearly as powerful as they have been for the last 75 years or more.
Jonathon Porritt 14 October 2026
