When I read the Oxford Mail report about Woodeaton Quarry possibly being re-opened by its owners so they can use it to dump clay and soil I realised that even though I’ve cycled through the village any number of times I didn’t know where the quarry was (is?). So I looked it up. It’s behind the school.
I can understand Barton folk not being wild about the idea of plenty of heavy trucks going up and down Bayswater Road. As a cyclist it would be irresponsible of me to say that the lorries might flatten out those speed bumps though. No, sorry, Barton, I don’t really mean it.
It shouldn't be about lorries, although 30+ lorries a day is too many for those roads. This is a historically important site. Some of the most important and interesting diversifications in life occured in the middle Jurassic and this is one of very few sites from this period. The site can also provide us with information now lost due to the closure of the Stonesfield mines and brick pits in Oxford. These quarries are where dinosaurs were first discovered. Science cut its teeth in pits like Woodeaton quarry. This is why its a SSSI and this is why it should not be filled in.
The owners have a responsibility to make the site safe, and accessible to scientists and can do nothing more with it, unless they can devise a novel way to do it all. This is why the asking price dropped by over £1,000,000 !!!
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