Gravel Extraction
The campaign to prevent a large area in the west of the constituency (around Benson, Dorchester on Thames and Warborough) from being dug up for gravel extraction goes on as we get closer to the county council producing its next minerals plan.
It is true that minerals can only be worked where they lie and that we all need gravel for the construction and development which is required. This is not a campaign against an important local industry. However, there are three issues here.
First, I believe Oxfordshire has been dealt a bad hand at the regional level in terms of the total amount of gravel which it has been asked to provide and that it is now being asked to take more than its fair share. Gravel is ubiquitous in the south east and it is wrong environmentally and economically that it should be transported long distances from where it is worked to where it is used. I therefore encourage Oxfordshire County Council to reject the regional numbers being imposed on us.
Secondly, one of the good things about this campaign is that it has been evidence-based rather than built on instant NIMBY reactions. The area around Dorchester on Thames, Warborough and Benson remains an area of significant national archaeological importance, the significance of which has been increased as the result of new research. At their own expense local residents have recently commissioned new geophysical surevy work which has revealed highly important new archaeological evidence. The broad area centred on Dorchester on Thames and Warborough contains almost 50% of all the Roman and prehistoric sites scheduled for protection in the whole of my constituency including a new Roman settlement and a complete new Roman town or suburb to Dorchester which were only found as a result of the work undertaken by PAGE.
It was really impressive to see both distinguished international archaeologists support our view of the archaeological importance of the site and also local people backing that up in practical field work to help map the extent of the remains.
Thirdly, we need to be much more robust in calling for more emphasis to be placed on the use of recycled aggregates.
