The latest bid by campaigners fighting to save Radley Lakes, near Abingdon, has failed.

Protesters fighting RWE npower's plans to dispose of spent fuel ash in Thrupp Lake wanted Oxfordshire County Council to make the company use a landfill site close to Didcot Power Station.

The Save Radley Lakes group, who staged a protest before today's planning meeting, argued that the landfill site at Sutton Courtenay - currently used to dispose of some ash from Didcot Power Station - could provide an alternative to dumping ash at Radley.

The planning committee agreed to extend the life of the Sutton Courtenay landfill site by nine years to 2021.

But it said using the site as an alternative ash disposal option had been investigated by the landfill site owners, Waste Recycling Group Ltd, and was not viable.

Paul Green, of WRG, had told the meeting: "It is not feasible or desirable to utilise it for the disposal of fuel ash other than at current levels."

Chairman of the Save Radley Lakes group Basil Crowley said: "If npower and WRG cannot work out how to get pulverised fuel ash into that space it is only because they don't want to."

An inquiry to determine whether Radley Lakes should be protected under 'town green status' is ongoing.