Radley Parish Council is to continue its £40,000 legal challenge in an effort to protect Thrupp Lake.

Last month, campaign group Save Radley Lakes claimed victory in the long-running fight to stop Didcot power station using the lake to dump waste ash, after the Waste Recycling Group was given permission to take an extra 400,000 tonnes of ash earmarked for the lake at its landfill site at Sutton Courtenay.

However, the parish council is to continue to push for a judicial review of Oxfordshire County Council's decision not to award Town Green status to the area.

Chairman Jennie Standen said npower wanted to keep the lake site in reserve.

She said: "The Town Green status would give security for the community on access to that lake and it would make it much more difficult for npower to use it.

"We regard it very much that we have to continue with this process, as at the moment we have no other option.

Last month, the parish council held a meeting behind closed doors to discuss the review's latest position.

Save Radley Lakes has fundraised for costs towards the judicial review since it was lodged at the beginning of the year, but it is not known how much the group will contribute to the estimated £40,000 bill. The parish council will pay the remainder.

Campaigner Lynda Pasquire said: "If we pull out, as the claimant, we are effectively admitting defeat and we have to pay everybody's costs, not only our own.

"But our barristers are very confident that they have a case to win and they want to go on trying with it and they are confident that they can win and it would secure it for public use."

Fellow campaigner Roger Thomas said: "npower has not given a guarantee as yet that the lakes will be saved and so that is why the review is going ahead."

npower spokesman Leon Flexman said: "We do know that they are continuing to pursue the judicial review.

"In the meantime, we cannot give a guarantee that we won't need to use the lakes."