Today's most viewed
| NEWS |  | | | | | OXFORD UNITED | | | | | | CRICKET | | | | | NEWS | |
|
|
|
Campaigners claim lake victory
 |
| Celebrating: Some members of the Save Radley Lakes Group |
Campaigners are claiming victory in their three-year battle to stop dumping of fuel ash at Radley Lakes, near Abingdon.
Thrupp Lake has been handed a lifeline after the Waste Recycling Group was given permission to take an extra 400,000 tonnes of spent pulverised fuel ash from Didcot Power Station that had been earmarked for the gravel pit.
Oxfordshire County Council's decision has been greeted with joy by the Save Radley Lakes campaign group.
Members have so far spent more than £50,000 and raised 11,500 signatures on a petition to fight RWE npower's plans to dump ash in the eight-hectare site.
Protesters hope the ruling means the power station owner will not need to dump any ash into the man-made lake before the 2,000 megawatt station's planned closure in 2015.
RWE npower had won permission to dump the ash in Thrupp Lake, but tonight said it was extremely unlikely.
The decision by the county council's planning committee comes 18 months after campaigners identified WRG's spare capacity at the Sutton Courtenay landfill site.
SRL chairman Dr Basil Crowley said: "This is an excellent outcome. As far as we can see, the stockpile at Sutton Courtenay will take all the ash that might otherwise have gone into Thrupp Lake.
| 'It would be a last resort but if the National Grid asks us to go up to maximum capacity in an emergency, and we have no other spare room, the ash would have to go in the lake' | | RWE npower spokesman Leon Flexman |
|
"We're very pleased. We have always said there ought to be a better way to dispose of Didcot's ash and there seems to be no need at all now for npower to destroy Thrupp Lake."
Helen Beckett, of Selwyn Crescent, Radley, said it was excellent news, adding: "The majority of the village still use those lakes to go walking, they're just so beautiful."
Oxford West and Abingdon MP Dr Evan Harris said: "I'm delighted. This should finally ensure that Thrupp Lake has a long and healthy future."
Although npower says it has no plans to use the lake, it has not ruled having to make an emergency dump if the building industry market for some of the 250,000 tonnes of pulverised ash it produces every year dries up.
Spokesman Leon Flexman said: "It would be a last resort but if the National Grid asks us to go up to maximum capacity in an emergency, and we have no other spare room, the ash would have to go in the lake.
"We still need to draw up a satisfactory contract with WRG and we need to hope there is not a severe downturn in the housing market, meaning people don't want to take our ash."
6:57pm Tuesday 22nd July 2008
Print 
Email this 
CommentPosted by: Lakesaver on 12:12pm Wed 23 Jul 08
We haven't won the Campaign yet. That will be the day that NPower announces they do not need Thrupp Lake and are handing it over to the community! The Legal Process to have the area classified as a Town Green is still underway and this has to continue if NPower are still intent on using the area as a waste dump.
We haven't won the Campaign yet. That will be the day that NPower announces they do not need Thrupp Lake and are handing it over to the community! The Legal Process to have the area classified as a Town Green is still underway and this has to continue if NPower are still intent on using the area as a waste dump.
Posted by: Lakesaver on 12:15pm Wed 23 Jul 08
Save Radley Lakes has not won the Campaign yet. That will happen when NPower states categorically that it has no need for Thrupp Lake and hands it over to the community. In the meantime the legal fight to have the area classified as a Town/Village Green goes on. This legal action is being taken by Radley Parish Council and supported by Save Radley Lakes with its fund-raising, and this has to continue if NPower are still intent on using the area as a waste dump.
Save Radley Lakes has not won the Campaign yet. That will happen when NPower states categorically that it has no need for Thrupp Lake and hands it over to the community. In the meantime the legal fight to have the area classified as a Town/Village Green goes on. This legal action is being taken by Radley Parish Council and supported by Save Radley Lakes with its fund-raising, and this has to continue if NPower are still intent on using the area as a waste dump.
Posted by: BW, abingdon on 1:27pm Wed 23 Jul 08
Where is this "beautiful lake"? All I've ever seen down there are old gravel pits full of water! Filling them in would put it back to how it was before they dug the gravel out, look better for it as well!
Where is this "beautiful lake"? All I've ever seen down there are old gravel pits full of water! Filling them in would put it back to how it was before they dug the gravel out, look better for it as well!
Posted by: Otter on 3:56pm Wed 23 Jul 08
[quote][bold]BW[/bold] wrote:
Where is this "beautiful lake"? All I've ever seen down there are old gravel pits full of water! Filling them in would put it back to how it was before they dug the gravel out, look better for it as well! [/quote] Well, BW, beauty is in the eye of the beholder - but factual accuracy isn't.
You're quite wrong to say that filling the Lake would put it back to how it was before.
Filling the Lake would involve building a 4 metre high clay bank round it, topped with a wire/barbed wire security fence.
Would the area look better for that? Well, I suppose that's a matter of taste really.
BW wrote:
Where is this "beautiful lake"? All I've ever seen down there are old gravel pits full of water! Filling them in would put it back to how it was before they dug the gravel out, look better for it as well!
Well, BW, beauty is in the eye of the beholder - but factual accuracy isn't.
You're quite wrong to say that filling the Lake would put it back to how it was before.
Filling the Lake would involve building a 4 metre high clay bank round it, topped with a wire/barbed wire security fence.
Would the area look better for that? Well, I suppose that's a matter of taste really.
Posted by: MachLieod-O'hOg'ai
n, fenwick on 5:21am Thu 24 Jul 08
<<Filling the Lake would involve building a 4 metre high clay bank round it, topped with a wire/barbed wire security fence.>>>>
and.......the machine gun nests, minefields,particle beam destructors, search towers search...etc etc......oh and the ubiquitous ice cream van.
<<Filling the Lake would involve building a 4 metre high clay bank round it, topped with a wire/barbed wire security fence.>>>>
and.......the machine gun nests, minefields,particle beam destructors, search towers search...etc etc......oh and the ubiquitous ice cream van.
Posted by: J, Ox on 12:50pm Thu 24 Jul 08
Use razor wire,AND machine guns,
then dump all the illegals from Campsfield in there....they won't escape from that b*gger!!
Use razor wire,AND machine guns,
then dump all the illegals from Campsfield in there....they won't escape from that b*gger!!
Posted by: Bw, Abingdon on 12:50pm Thu 24 Jul 08
If the clay bank was there before they dug the hole then yes put it back. But i don't think it was and you don't need to fill it with ash from the power station, could be used for land fill and grassed over.
If the clay bank was there before they dug the hole then yes put it back. But i don't think it was and you don't need to fill it with ash from the power station, could be used for land fill and grassed over.
Posted by: Hans Offarlakes, Radley on 2:58pm Thu 24 Jul 08
[quote]If the clay bank was there before they dug the hole then yes put it back. But i don't think it was and you don't need to fill it with ash from the power station, could be used for land fill and grassed over.[/quote]
You're talking rubbish.
If the clay bank was there before they dug the hole then yes put it back. But i don't think it was and you don't need to fill it with ash from the power station, could be used for land fill and grassed over.
You're talking rubbish.
Posted by: J, ox on 4:26pm Thu 24 Jul 08
[quote]quote[/quote]If the clay bank was there before they dug the hole then yes put it back. But i don't think it was and you don't need to fill it with ash from the power station, could be used for land fill and grassed over.
Very astute Hans
quote
If the clay bank was there before they dug the hole then yes put it back. But i don't think it was and you don't need to fill it with ash from the power station, could be used for land fill and grassed over.
Very astute Hans
Posted by: Lakesaver on 8:15pm Thu 24 Jul 08
The article is on the website, but where is it in the paper - did Newsquest bow to NPower and "forget" to print it?
As for Bw who purports to come from Abingdon, I think he is talking out of the top of his head. He has no idea what a bund is or how high, or what happens when it is filled in. Why don't you visit Lakes H and I which are on the other side of the Sustrans Track and see what a Bund is and how high it is. Come up from the Thames Path and look and be amazed at how the Environment Agency and Oxfordshire County Council allowed a whacking great lump of impervious material to sit in the flood plain!
Thrupp Lake is part of the flood relief system and if it is removed, Abingdon can look forward to greater flooding.
The article is on the website, but where is it in the paper - did Newsquest bow to NPower and "forget" to print it?
As for Bw who purports to come from Abingdon, I think he is talking out of the top of his head. He has no idea what a bund is or how high, or what happens when it is filled in. Why don't you visit Lakes H and I which are on the other side of the Sustrans Track and see what a Bund is and how high it is. Come up from the Thames Path and look and be amazed at how the Environment Agency and Oxfordshire County Council allowed a whacking great lump of impervious material to sit in the flood plain!
Thrupp Lake is part of the flood relief system and if it is removed, Abingdon can look forward to greater flooding.
Posted by: BW, Abingdon on 8:24am Fri 25 Jul 08
Bund - pro-nazi pre world war 11 organisation, so are Lakesaver and Hans members? Bund - rear end or butt in Urbu/Punjabi, which seems to be where Lakesaver and Hans are talking out of!
For the record i have lived in or around Abingdon for 50 years and know Radley well.
Bund - pro-nazi pre world war 11 organisation, so are Lakesaver and Hans members? Bund - rear end or butt in Urbu/Punjabi, which seems to be where Lakesaver and Hans are talking out of!
For the record i have lived in or around Abingdon for 50 years and know Radley well.
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
