Oxfordshire beauty spot saved from becoming a waste coal ash dump

Ecologist

21st January, 2009

It has been a long and bitter struggle. When locals who had for years enjoyed the peace and tranquillity of Thrupp lake at Radley, Oxfordshire, learned that it was to be filled with fly-ash from Didcot power station, they assumed that a small but vocal protest would help see off the plans.

Little were they to know that the company responsible, nPower, would employ intimidating security personnel and slap injunctions on members of the local community and press in an attempt to keep people away from the lake whilst their contractors began to cut away at the lakes’ trees, even whilst the situation was awaiting a court hearing.

But finally, following extraordinary persistence by the campaigners, nPower has finally turned the site over to become a local amenity and nature reserve. The full story is to be found here.

This article first appeared in the Ecologist January 2009