Radley Lakes

Speech by Cllr Lesley Legge delivered to County Council's Planning & Regulation Committee on Mon 10th Jul 2006

I am speaking as the local member for Abingdon East, which comes as close as 300m to these lakes and contains a far greater density of residents than the division in which they fall. Government pressure will increase it further. In fact Abingdon as a whole has been increasing in population over the same period of time as these lakes have existed and having reached its outer boundaries continues to increase from within on large brown field sites as they become available.

I will concentrate on the conclusions which the officer has put to you which I think need to be carefully examined.

nPower has stated a need. I do not believe they have shown an overwhelming need for the use of Radley Lakes for continuing to deposit their pfa. I do not believe they have fully explored other options. I do not believe that they have invested sufficiently in new technology for re-cycling or re-using their waste material. None of these are the problem of OCC. (It is nPower's choice whether to invest in better ways or whether to have all their eggs in one basket as the easy and cheapest option. Their responsibility not ours. They cannot rely on a 20 year old agreement when technology and environmental issues are moving so fast and the land use becomes more sensitive.)

Radley Lakes are 40/50 years old and are a real living amenity, a natural habitat for many forms of wild life - some important and protected species, and from which people gain relaxation and inspiration and breathing space. As Lakes they have been accessed by the public throughout their existence. That is why so many objections have been received by your committee and by me.

I strongly believe that paras 81 to 84 are wrong in stating that the proposal would secure long term nature conservation interest - the typing error giving the description 'indifferent' as one word, in fact describes what you get from pfa scrub - flat uninteresting monotonous land with one or two species of orchids as the only plus and they grow around here anyway! I believe the visual amenity of the Green Belt would be harmed.

I urge you to reject this proposal and/or consider a referral to the Secretary of State so that these issues can be considered more widely.

Thank you