Vale Urges Rethink on Radley Lakes Destruction

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 24th Jul 2006

Vale Councillors yesterday agreed a Liberal Democrat motion calling on the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Ruth Kelly MP, to reconsider the recent decision of Oxfordshire County Council to approve an application to dump fly ash from Didcot Power Station into the pristine natural environment at Radley Lakes.

The lakes have been established over decades following gravel extraction in the 1940s and they now form an outstanding wildlife habitat close to Abingdon town centre. The plan to fill one of the lakes would mean that a second lake would need to be drained, causing significant displacement to the wildlife which has been established there.

The Council's motion asks the Secretary of State to reconsider the application as the use of the lakes for this purpose is not included in the Oxfordshire Structure Plan, which means that she will have the final say on any decision.

Radly District and County Cllr Bob Johnston said: "This application is completely unnecessary considering the options available to RWE npower. As they admit themselves in a promotional leaflet sent to all councillors, they get paid to recycle fly ash but they must pay to dump it - which doesn't sound like a difficult business decision to me. Dumping this waste in Radley Lakes is simply the cheapest option available but it will cause untold damage to the local environment. The plan is ill-thought through and very wasteful and for those reasons alone it should be rejected out of hand."

Supporting the motion, Cllr Peter Green said: "We have been lobbied by RWE npower who have attempted to suggest that we are in some way against electricity generation. That's not true: we all need electricity in the modern world and Didcot is currently the only game in town when it comes to local generation. All we want to do is to protect a local wildlife and leisure site in the face of a plan which is simply not necessary. This fly ash can easily go elsewhere.

"The letter from the Vale to the Secretary of State may not seem much but it represents a clear statement of opposition on reasonable grounds from an elected local organisation representing 116,000 residents. That can't be ignored and I hope RWE npower will sit up and take notice while there is still time."