Wycombe District Council purchases Spake Oak Quarry

INFORMATION SHEET

Wycombe District Council has secured the future of the former Spade Oak Quarry as part of its longstanding plans to develop the Little Marlow Lakes Country Park between Marlow and Bourne End.

The land, a former gravel excavation and processing site, was sold in 2017 by Tarmac Lafarge to an overseas investor, from whom the Council has recently purchased the whole site. This will enable improvements to the existing nature reserve and active management to deter fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour.

The Council will be working with local community interests and stakeholders to look at the next steps in turning the site into a local nature park and visitor attraction as a key location within the proposed wider country park.

Cllr. Broadbent said “Spade Oak Lake is an extraordinary wildlife habitat and has the potential to be a special place that can be enjoyed by all. I am pleased that bringing it into public ownership will be a lasting legacy from the Council for people to enjoy”.

Background notes:

Ideas to develop a country park in the Little Marlow Gravel Pits area were first proposed in the 1960s. In 2002, Wycombe District Council and Buckinghamshire County Council jointly published comprehensive planning guidance outlining their requirements and expectations for the future development of the site.

In 2017, Wycombe District Council formally designated the area for the provision of a country park under the Countryside Act 1968. The Council’s recently adopted new Local Plan includes strengthened policies (Policy RUR4) to promote the continued development and long term management of the Country Park.

Since 2017, the access road to the site has been plagued by fly-tipping and the site has been exposed to illegal incursions. The Council has already agreed, in principle, with Thames Water Utilities to provide new security measures for the site’s access road, which also serves their Little Marlow treatment works.