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The Friends of Wicklesham Quarry are seeking to raise £100,000 to bring a Judicial Review of Oxfordshire County Council's decision to allow multi-storey buildings and potentially a data centre to be built on top of Faringdon's "scientifically priceless" Site of Special Scientific interest.

We believe this decision is unlawful.

Local people from Faringdon and the western Vale villages are fighting to protect the Midvale Ridge from a huge industrial/ commercial development, which may include a data centre, and 2,500 houses. The Midvale Ridge was formed by a fossilised coral reef, and Wicklesham Quarry is its most outstanding feature. It is one of the UK's most important Sites of Special Scientific Interest, listed in 1949. It is an internationally famous 'Type Site' and a Geological Conservation Review Series Site.

Its biodiversity is linked to an unconfined aquifer - one of 4, we think, in the whole of south east England. Through fluctuating ponds and regular flooding Wicklesham Quarry supports insects, birds, bats, amphibians and terrestrial mammals.

The SSSI has numerous species of fossils that are found nowhere else in the world! 'Faringdon fossils' are central to the history and identity of where we live - and part of our national scientific heritage. Both Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin helped to make them famous.

Please help us challenge Oxfordshire County Council's decision in the High Court by making a donation to our legal costs! We CAN prevent Wicklesham Quarry and the Midvale Ridge being concreted over for housing and commercial development by working together.