The
present situation
Oxfordshire
County Council finally granted planning permission on 5 January
2007.
However, RWE npower still need to obtain a number of detailed
approvals before they can start work. They
also have to obtain an ‘IPPC' (pollution prevention and control)
licence before they can start dumping ash in Thrupp Lake .
In
October 2006, we made an application to Oxfordshire County Council
to have the Thrupp and Bullfield Lakes and
land immediately around registered as a ‘Town Green' under the
Commons Registration Act 1965. Under
this act, if local people have used an area for recreation ‘as
of right' for at least twenty years, it
can be registered as a town or village green. That protects it
from development. The application
(which was supported by lots of evidence from local people) has
been accepted as ‘duly made' by
the County Council. That means that they think there is case that
needs to be looked at.
Having
sought objections from the landowners (including RWE npower!),
the public Inquiry will be held between 2nd and 4th April 2007
in the New Pavillion, Radley College, Radley.
We
believe we have a good case .
Two other similar Oxfordshire cases (the Glebe Land at Sunningwell
and the Trap Grounds in Oxford ) both
went to the House of Lords. In both cases, the Law Lords ruled
in favour of the campaigners, and the land was protected from
development.
At
the end of December 2006, a group of people moved into ‘Sandles'
(the empty house, owned by RWE npower, by Thrupp Lake. The
group (who we like to refer to as ‘the settlers') say that they
are homeless. They are also committed to trying to save the Lakes.
RWE npower's first attempt
to have the group evicted failed because RWE npower bungled the
legal paperwork!
They
succeeded on the second attempt and a brutal eviction of the people
who had taken over Sandles was carried out by people whose methods
were questionable and dangerous. NPower were delighted to
get their property back and to clamp down on any protest, they
went to the High Court and obtained an injunction against six
named individuals. Only one of those named is a member of
Save Radley Lakes Campaign. The others are not.
Save
Radley Lakes' position has always been not to condone illegal
acts and whilst we welcomed the attentions of the media which
resulted from the "settlers" occupation of Sandles,
we stressed that they were independent of our campaign but had
the same objective - to save the lakes from destruction.
Following
the High Court Injunction, we were not allowed to photograph or
film RWE npower clearing hundreds of trees and destroying potential
nesting sites for Birds. Even if a crime was being committed
it was a Contempt of Court to film it! RWE NPower had to
stop work at the 1st March and made the excuse that a Coots Nest
had been found and so in accordance with the Countryside and Wildlife
Act they would stop work!
It
is also very gratifying that support for the campaign has been
growing, rather than falling away, since RWE npower were given
planning permission. We are
getting increasing numbers of offers of help and support from
people, both locally and further afield. The
more support we get, the more likely we are to win!
In
the meantime, the present situation
is that – although RWE npower have got their planning permission
– there are plenty of things
which may still stop them from going ahead. The Planning
Conditions Precedent have yet to be agreed and these raise more
questions than answers.
One of the most important of those is
public pressure on RWE npower and the fear of bad publicity!
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