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People
and Politicians Unite in Bid to Save the Radley Lakes
£4,000
raised towards Court Action
[posted
11/02/2008]
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Left
to Right: Richard Stevens, Nicola Blackwood and Dr
Evan Harris MP
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| Despite the attractions of the fine weather
and the rugby, around 200 people packed the Abingdon Guildhall
on Saturday (Feb 9) to hear Lib Dem MP Dr Evan Harris,
together with his opposing prospective parliamentary candidates,
Nicola Blackwood (Conservative), Richard Stevens (Labour)
and Chris Goodall (Green) give their unreserved support
for further action to save the Radley Lakes . The meeting
was also addressed by Helena Whall of the CPRE. The meeting
was called by Save Radley Lakes to launch an appeal to
raise funds to support a judicial review of Oxfordshire
County Council's recent decision not to register land
around Thrupp and Bullfield Lakes at Radley as a town
or village green. Over £4,000 was raised at the
event. |
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The
meeting was opened by Dr Harris. Roger Thomas
of Save
Radley Lakes then explained the current situation.
He said that 2 years ago Didcot power station was pleading
utmost need saying that, unless they got planning permission
to fill Thrupp Lake with ash, the power station would
have to close. He continued:
"Well,
the power station is still running and the lake still
contains water. The power station has to close by
2015 and will probably do so in the next few years.
With every day that passes that need to put ash into
Thrupp Lake diminishes, and the likelihood that they
will not have enough waste ash to fill it increases".
Mr Thomas went on to
explain the situation with respect to the Town Green:
that Oxfordshire County Council had rejected the application
on a legal technicality and that this could be and should
be challenged in the High Court by judicial review.
He said that Radley
Parish Council had already agreed, in principle,
to pursue such a judicial review, subject to some conditions,
and that Abingdon Town Council was considering joining
in. He said
"Both
councils are understandably wary about committing
public funds to such a venture and are looking to
the community for additional financial support, and
they need some reassurance that this support will
be forthcoming. This is why we have called you to
this meeting today."
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The
crowd assembling in the Guildhall before the start of
the meeting. |
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Evan
Harris MP (Lib Dem) said, after explaining why he did
not support the Trap Grounds:
"I
do support saving the Radley Lakes , which is why,
when Oxfordshire County Council rejected the application,
I immediately called for a judicial review and gave
it my personal support. That is why I am here, and
why I am now making a personal donation."
Dr
Harris further pledged to donate any money raised through
media appearances during the next few months to the
cause:
"A
lot of money has to be raised. It won't be easy. Lawyers
are expensive. Two lawyers are more expensive. You
will need to reach deep into your pockets and give
generously.
"The
decision to allow Thrupp Lake to be destroyed was
a political one. Oxfordshire County Council should
be committed to preserving the local environment,
but they have not looked sufficiently at the other
choices. Government could do more to protect the environment
by making it more to the advantage of business to
give higher priority to environmental issues.
"I
am very pleased to support this campaign, not only
to raise the money to challenge the town green decision
in the courts, but also to put pressure on the government
and npower to find alternatives to environmentally
destructive disposal."
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Nicola
Blackwood (prospective parliamentary candidate for the
Conservative Party) then spoke:
"There
is a cross-party consensus on this one - and in any
case, the environment is not the place for party politics!
I am here because I am Nicola Blackwood, resident
of Oxfordshire, and I am not going to stand by and
watch Thrupp Lake destroyed forever for the sake of
short term financial gain."
"
We have to save the Radley Lakes, but in order to
do that, there needs to be a judicial review and in
order to do that, we need all of you here today to
reach into your pockets and give whatever you can
to the cause; and then go home and get all of your
friends to give whatever they can ."
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Chris
Goodall (prospective parliamentary candidate for the
Green Party) who has been actively supporting the campaign,
said
"This
is one of several recent cases of a small group pitting
themselves against large corporations, in this case,
one of the largest multinational companies in the
world - RWE, in order to save their local environment.
It's going to be hard, but you need to stand firm.
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"PFA
could be used to make cement which it could replace
in concrete and would thereby save half a million
tonnes of CO2 each year. Every other power plant operator
is taking steps to use their waste responsibly ."
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Richard
Stevens (local solicitor and prospective parliamentary
candidate for the Labour Party) said:
"It's
not too late to change direction, and we as a community
can do two things:
Firstly,
we must urge Oxfordshire County Council and RWE npower
to think again. The socially responsible thing to
do is to acknowledge local feeling on this issue and
reconsider the plan. I've no doubt that RWE npower's
directors will be mindful of their statutory duty
- recently introduced by the government - to have
regard to, amongst other things, the impact of the
company's operations on the community and the environment."
Secondly,
local people can get behind the judicial review action
proposed by the Save Radley Lakes action group. I'm
pleased to offer my support to the volunteers."
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Left
to Right: Nicola Blackwood, Chris Goodall, Richard
Stevens and Evan Harris MP,
outside
the Guildhall after the meeting.
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Helena
Whall, CPRE's new Oxfordshire Campaign Manager, expressed
the hope that RWE npower will halt all work until after
the Judicial Review. She said that, at her recent first
visit to the site, she was immediately struck by the
beauty of Thrupp Lake and, at the same time, shocked
by the devastation around about where infilling of other
lakes with fly ash had been occurring. She said that,
if we win, the costs will not be great and the effort
would be well worth it.
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Afterwards,
Lynda Pasquire of Save
Radley Lakes said:
"From
what has been said to me here today, the general view
of the public is that npower were completely mad to
consider doing this and there ought to be ways of
stopping them. "
Dr
Basil Crowley, chairman of Save
Radley Lakes said:
"It
is gratifying to find prospective parliamentary candidates
from all four main political parties in a constituency
sharing the same platform and in full agreement on
an issue of some importance. The Radley Lakes is one
of those exceptions, where a whole community is united
with one aim, in this case that of saving the Radley
Lakes , Thrupp and Bullfield Lakes , from unnecessary
destruction or harm in the pursuit of commercial or
financial gain."
The meeting also
received a warm message of encouragement and support
from Catherine Robinson, who led the recent successful
legal fight to get the Oxford
Trap Grounds registered as a Town Green.
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