The County Council Cabinet met earlier today and agreed to formally oppose the 2.1mtpa (million tonnes per annum) regional quota issued by the Secretary of State in March 2010. This 2.1mtpa represented a 17% increase in the quota over that which was agreed in 2009, and the County Council Cabinet must be commended for standing up for Oxfordshire and it's rural communities.
PAGE was represented by Richard Douglas, John Taylor and Steve Thompson at the Cabinet meeting, with John giving our verbal submission to the debate. We also submitted a written report to the Cabinet highlighting the PAGE concerns and proposed that the Cabinet should reject the 2.1mtpa quota.
Our County Councillor, Lorraine Lindsay-Gale, also spoke on behalf of all the constituents that would be affected by this top-down imposed system of minerals quotas.
Other community representations were made by OUTRAGE and BACHPORT, who are similar groups in the west and south of the county.
If the county is successful in having this 17% increase removed, then that will be great news. But it will not remove the PAGE area from the threat of minerals extraction, so we shall continue to work with the county planning officers and challenge the Council Cabinet for further reductions. The PAGE campaign goes on, but this could be a great first step in the long battle ahead.