The sun is setting over Thrupp Lake. Will it be forever?
[posted 16/10/2007, updated 17/10/2007] |
On 13 October 2007, Inspector Vivian Chapman QC finally delivered his 62 page report rejecting the application by Mrs Jo Cartmell to register Thrupp and Bullfield Lakes and their immediate surroundings as a Town or Village Green under the Commons Registration Act 1965. Despite finding “overwhelming evidence” of use by the people of Abingdon, and fully acknowledging the beauty and interest residing in the area, the inspector nevertheless decided, based upon his expert interpretation of the law, that the applicant had failed to prove that the land was registrable as a Town Green. Accordingly he has recommended that Oxfordshire County Council reject the application, which, there is little doubt, they will do. |
RWE npower, one of the world’s largest electricity companies, will now go ahead with ruining Radley Lakes. Local campaigners are dismayed by the Inspector’s decision that the land does not qualify as Town Green. |
Oxfordshire County Council’s Planning and Regulation Committee will consider the Inspector’s findings at its meeting scheduled for 26th November. At the present time, there is little doubt that councillors will accept the Inspector’s recommendation and reject the application. |
The Inquiry and its conclusions have nothing whatsoever to with the rights and wrongs of npower’s plans. It is a verdict on whether the lakes are registrable as a Town or Village Green under the Commons Registration Act 1965, which nothing to do with planning. Had the application been successful, it would have prevented any development in the designated area. |
[Update 25/11/2007] |
Save Radley Lakes has since obtained an independent legal opinion from a leading Barrister in the field. This has declared the report to be legally unsound and, as a result, Oxfordshire County Council has removed the item from the agenda for 26th November. [See separate story] |
Background to This Story
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Two of the key findings of fact contained in the Inspector’s report are: |
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In view of these findings, many will find the conclusions of the Inspector’s report very hard to understand. |
[Read the Inspector’s Report in full here] |
Other links relevant to this posting Jo Cartmell talking to Phil Kennedy; and Andy Boddington, Leon Flexman and Basil Crowley talking to Bill Heine. |