Radley Lakes Town Green Recommendation

"Devastated at the result, devastated at the destruction that may now hit Thrupp Lake." That is the opinion of environmental campaigners at the news that a County Council appointed Inspector has rejected the case for Bullfield and Thrupp Lakes to be registered as a town green.

Jo Cartmell for Save Radley Lakes said: "I am very shocked at the decision. We seem to have lost the case on obscure points of law. I and many others have used Radley Lakes just like a village green for many years. But it appears because the Thrupp Lake was drained at one point, and because the land we are claiming around the lake is rather narrow, our claim has failed. There is simply no justification for what npower is doing. They have recycled their ash for the past two years and do not need the lakes. It is galling that they are still dumping massive quantities of ash when communities are doing everything they can to reduce, reuse and recycle. More than sixty species of threatened wildlife are affected by npower's wish to dump ash because it is cheaper to dump it than recycle it into building materials."

Andy Boddington for CPRE says: "The Radley Lakes campaign has been amazing for its energy and integrity. They have been modern day campaigners fighting for a modern day cause. RWE npower is still using hackneyed twentieth century excuses to destroy a landscape that communities have valued for decades. It still has time to realise that ash no longer needs to be dumped and can be recycled, and that Radley Lakes can be preserved for local people."

Alison Prewett a school teacher from Abingdon commented: "What a dreadful day for us all and for everyone in Abingdon. What a dreadful country we live in, such hypocrisy prevails, so much talk about the environment and what we must all do to avoid catastrophe and yet things like this are still allowed to happen."

Notes

According to the Commons Act to get an area of land declared a town green the land must have been used by local people in common, without permission or hindrance from the landowner, and without force for at least twenty years.

Jo Cartmell lives in Abingdon and applied to have Radley Lakes registered as a town green. Her application, supported by 29 witnesses, was heard at a public inquiry which sat in April and June. The Inspector was Vivian Chapman, who concluded:

"I conclude that the applicant has failed to prove that the application land or any part of the application land is registrable as a new green. I recommend that the application is rejected."

The County Solicitor has recommended:

"The Committee is RECOMMENDED to REJECT the application for registration of the Thrupp and Bullfield Lakes and the surrounding land as described in the application by Mrs Jo Cartmell dated 19 October 2006 as a new town or village green pursuant to the Commons Registration Act 1965, for the reasons given in the Inspector’s report dated 13 October 2007."

The final decision on Town Green status will be made by the County Council Planning and Regulation Committee on Monday 26 November 2007. It is expected that it will accept the recommendation of the Inspector.

Andy Boddington is Campaign Manager for the Campaign to Protect Rural England, Oxfordshire.

Further Information

• The Inspector's Report
• OCC officers recommendation to the Planning and Regulation Committee
• Analysis and comment on the Radley Lakes judgement
• Radley Lakes
• Town Greens