Sir, Ruth Kelly has said she will not call in the planning application to pump the ash from Didcot Power Station into the old and beautiful Thrupp Lake at Radley.

Unless Oxfordshire County Council makes an unexpected U-turn, a valuable community and wildlife resource has been lost as a result of her decision.

Two days after she signed the letter condemning the lake, Kelly boasted in a speech that the Government was "reducing reliance on landfill" and has "in place planning policies to help deliver more sustainable waste management and treat waste as a resource". If politicians had less amnesia and more consistency, we might indeed manage waste sustainability as well as preserving Oxfordshire's valued countryside.

Andy Boddington, Campaign Manager, Campaign to Protect Rural England Oxfordshire