DIRECTORS have pledged to repay investors and restore the riverside following a failed hydroelectric power project.

Directors at Abingdon Hydro will reimburse 86 per cent of investors’ cash, four months after they abandoned their £1.25m plan for a hydro-electric plant on the Thames at Abingdon Weir.

Penny Clover, a director of the scheme, said: “We decided earlier this year that the dream of renewable energy from the river weir in Abingdon could not be realised.

“It was no longer viable, mainly due to rising construction costs and a decrease in the guaranteed return of the generated electricity.”

The hydro, which secured planning permission in October 2013, would have seen two Archimedes screws installed at the weir with the potential to power 120 homes.

More than 400 people fed money into the scheme, racking up an investment of £800,000.

During the consultation process the directors spent £120,000 on surveys, planning applications and licences – which will not be returned.

The remaining money will make its way back into investors’ accounts by the end of March, when the company will disband.

Abingdon resident Caroline Bullock, 74, was one of the hundreds of hopefuls who lost money.

She said: “I believe in green issues and thought it was a great idea. We have got all this unused power and it was local. I was very sad that it wasn’t able to go through.

“I invested £1,000 which I put in the names of my grandchildren because they were all interested in it.

“I went to Osney Mead hydro and looked at theirs. Perhaps we started a little bit late in the day. It was really complex.”

She said she would “rather have seen the end product up and running” instead of getting her money back and acknowledged “investing with shares is always a gamble”.

Vale of White Horse District Council, which owns the land, has agreed to regenerate the site after lobbying by Protect Abingdon Weir, which opposed the scheme from the outset.

Campaign group member Mike Gould, 67, said: “This is quite a result. I have been pressing the council to do it and talking to councillors.

“People have still lost a lot of money.

“I do feel sorry for people who invested with every good intention.”

The district council will charge directors £385 plus VAT to clear the area and plant 12 fenced-off sapling trees when the river level drops, replacing the three chopped down.

Andy Roberts, a spokesperson for the council, said: “Abingdon Hydro are are very keen to get the area back to normal as quickly as possible.”