Final go ahead given to RWE npower start work on Thrupp Lake - well almost...

[posted 17/07/2007]

Yesterday, Oxfordshire County Council's Planning & Regulation Committee considered the last three conditions that RWE npower need to comply with before being allowed to commence their 'development' of Thrupp Lake. The Committee resolved as follows

Save Radley Lakes, who picketed and addressed the meeting, had lodged a formal legal objection on the grounds that a further Environmental Impact Assessment was required in respect of variations, which were required to meet certain conditions, but that are outside the proposals addressed by the Environmental Statement. Save Radley Lakes also pointed out that the amount of material that npower were apparently proposing to remove from the lake would be in contravention of the planning permission.

The meeting was also addressed by Radley Parish Council chairman, Jenny Standen, who reiterated that Council's deep concerns about the proposals.

At its previous meeting on 21st May, the Committee had voted itself the right to have these outstanding matters brought before it for consideration, rather than delegated to officers, as would normally have been the case, in spite of, at that time, no particular problems with them being anticipated. (These remaining conditions had been awaiting responses from consultees who had raised some technical issues.) However, when potentially serious difficulties were raised by objectors, the Committee seemed to have few reservations about delegating the matter to its Officers, albeit in consultation with the Committee chairman. Strange.

If and when these conditions are finally approved, as per 2. above, then this will remove the final obstacle to RWE npower commencing work on the lake.