A DISPUTE over fencing emerged at the Radley Lakes enquiry at Radley College today.

Save Radley Lakes member Jo Cartmell is applying for Town Village Green status to protect Thrupp and Bullfield Lakes.

The owners RWE npower want to dump spent fuel ash from Didcot Power Station into Thrupp Lake, but have no plans to use Bullfield.

RWE said it needed to use the lake for ash disposal and said, at the moment, it could not recycle all the spent fuel ash.

Mrs Cartmell is bidding to show, along with other campaigners, the lakes were used regularly for recreational purposes for at least 20 years.

But a former owner of Thrupp Lake, Charles Dockar-Drysdale, in a written statement, said when he built Sandles House at the side of Thrupp Lake he put up a fence all the way down the eastern side to stop people getting to the lake.

Save Radley Lakes member, and archaeologist, Roger Thomas, said no witnesses could ever remember a fence down to the lake and the Ordnance Survey map of 1990 did not show one.

The inquiry is scheduled to finish on Friday afternoon. The inspector, Vivian Chapman QC, will send his report and recommendation to Oxfordshire County Council.

The authority has already given planning permission for Thrupp Lake to be used for ash disposal, but all preparation work on the site has been suspended during the nesting season.