Officers of Oxfordshire County Council have recommended that RWE npower, the owners of Didcot Power Station owners, be granted planning permission to fill Thrupp Lake at Radley with waste ash (Oxford Mail, July 6).

Sadly, they seem to have fallen hook, line and sinker for the old, constantly repeated line that the power station cannot possibly continue to generate electricity without the relatively small extra capacity of Thrupp Lake.

Parts of the summary of their report, for the meeting on Monday, where the decision will be made, read like an RWE npower press release.

All they missed out was the bit about power generation being a 24/7 operation.

Ah well, it all goes to prove the old adage repeat something often enough and someone will believe you.

Do these officers seriously believe that RWE npower are going to forgo all the lovely profits they make from selling us electricity just for the want of a little space to put their ash?

RWE, the German owner, is certainly not bothered by such niceties.

Over in the Rhineland, it destroys whole villages and displaces thousands of people to get at the coal it wants for its German power stations. Lovely company!

Doubtless, these officers have been shown the piles of fly ash outside Didcot Power Station and given heartrending tales of how hard it tries to recycle it.

Doubtless, these piles will miraculously stop growing as soon as planning permission is granted, even without using the lake.

Building up huge piles of ash outside the power station is a masterly strategy for getting their way. Let's hope our elected representatives can see through it.

Marjorie White, Cherwell Close, Abingdon