THE public inquiry into an application for town green status for Radley Lakes, near Abingdon, will take place over four days in April.

The inquiry will be presided over by a senior barrister with expertise in the relevant area of the law.

A spokesman for Oxfordshire County Council said the inquiry would be held because town green issues were separate from the current planning permission that has been given to RWE npower to use Thrupp Lake to dump spent fuel ash from Didcot power station.

The spokesman said: "In these circumstances, because of the balance of issues that have been raised by the applicant for village green status and the objectors, a public inquiry is needed to ensure that all the issues are aired in a fair and impartial manner. "

The inspector will provide a report a few weeks after the closure of the public inquiry, the exact date of which has not been announced.

The recommendations will be presented to the first available meeting of the county council's planning and regulation committee after the report is received.

It is the same committee that approved RWE npower's application last summer.

If the outcome of the inquiry, and the resulting decision of the committee, grants village green status, the owners of the site would be required to preserve the area open for use as a town green, in accordance with the law, as from the date the land becomes a town green.