Campaigners
said today that they would take the battle to save Radley
Lakes to the High Court after Oxford County Councillors
resolved to reject the application to register the area
as a Town Green.
At
a meeting packed with members of the public, Oxfordshire
County Councillors voted 10 to 4 to reject the application.
They also rejected a motion to defer a decision until
they could see the site for themselves, and voted not
to take further advice on a disputed legal point. The
voting was strongly along party lines with all nine
Conservative councillors present, joined by one Labour
councillor, voting to reject the application.
Save Radley Lakes is asking its lawyers to consider
urgently how the County's decision can be challenged
by a judicial review in the High Court.
Basil
Crowley, chairman of Save Radley Lakes said "Oxfordshire
County Councillors have shown their true colours today.
They had a free choice whether or not to protect the
Lakes, and they voted not to."
More
than 50 people demonstrated outside County Hall before
the meeting, and Councillors would have been left in
no doubt as to the the strength of public opinion on
the issue. Among the demonstrators was prospective Conservative
parliamentary candidate for Oxford West and Abingdon,
Nicola Blackwood who said, " Thrupp Lake has become
a stunning area of natural beauty and I think we should
explore every possible solution before we deprive the
people of Radley and Abingdon of its benefits."
In a message delivered to the meeting on his behalf,
MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, Dr Evan Harris, expressed
strong support for the application and urged campaigners
to appeal if the County Council decided to to reject
the application. Dr Harris offered his full personal
support for any such action.
RWE
npower, operators of Didcot power stations, who are
proposing to destroy Thrupp Lake by filling it with
fly ash had previously indicated their support for the
democratic and legal process are being called upon to
desist from further damaging the site until the matter
is finally settled in the courts. |
