Since then, several other local councils have added their support to the campaign. These include Oxford City Council, who passed a resolution in support of the action on the 18th February; the Vale of White Horse District Council; Abingdon Town Council; Kennington Parish Council and Sunningwell Parish Council. Several councils have already pledged financial support, and others have promised to consider giving financial support in the future.

The Parish Council has not taken this step lightly and would really like to be able to spend the money in better ways. However RWE npower's refusal to back up their recent announcement that they do not need Thrupp Lake just yet with any assurances, or even a statement of intent, that they will not harm or destroy the lakes sometime in the future left us with very little choice but to proceed with this action. However the Parish Council recognises that npower may need more time before they can say they are confident that they will never need Thrupp Lake in the future, which is why we have applied for a Stay of Proceedings to allow time for further negotiations with the Power Station, and with the other landowners, about securing the future of these beautiful lakes and beginning a planned restoration of the area. For a start, we would like to see some remediation of the damage inflicted last year by clearance work, and, in the longer term, proper restoration of the wider Radley Lakes area which has suffered the consequences of 25 years of inadequately controlled ash dumping. This is Greenbelt land on the edge of Abingdon and in the Thames floodplain. Yet a long series of poor planning decisions, culminating with the one made in July 2007 permitting RWE npower to dump ash into Thrupp Lake, the oldest and largest of the surviving Radley Lakes, has allowed much of this beautiful area to be desecrated and turned into an industrial waste site. It is high time things were put right.

The Parish Council is most gratified by the strong support being given to the Campaign by other local councils. The Parish Council is also grateful to Save Radley Lakes for continuing their fund raising campaign and to members of the community in general for their hard work and generosity.

The ball is now in npower's court. At the present time we would like their assurance that they are doing everything they can to save Thrupp Lake for posterity, by exploring all possible alternative ash disposal strategies, and, as a mark of goodwill, they should start remedial work without delay. We feel that npower has a long way to go to earn the respect that they once enjoyed in this community. The sooner they start, the better for us all.

In the meantime, the community would much prefer to be raising money to buy the lakes than paying for lawyers' time.