A CAMPAIGNER striving to save East Cambridgeshire s ancient Roman drainage channels met with members of The National Trust on Tuesday night. Former county and district councillor Geoffrey Woollard, who is leading the Don t Ditch Our Lodes campaign, has go

A CAMPAIGNER striving to save East Cambridgeshire's ancient Roman drainage channels met with members of The National Trust on Tuesday night.

Former county and district councillor Geoffrey Woollard, who is leading the Don't Ditch Our Lodes campaign, has gone head to head with the charity over Wicken Vision, a project to flood fens from Wicken to Cambridge over the next 100 years.

But Mr Woollard described the meeting as pointless.

He said: "I was argued at for an hour and a half and, of course, I argued back but, unfortunately, the meeting seemed to me to be somewhat pointless, for the gentlemen I met obviously have insufficient influence or seniority to agree to the abandonment of that which upsets me most - the so-called 'Wicken Vision.'

"I, in turn, was not minded to moderate my opinion that the Wicken Vision is a big mistake and that it will be an important factor in the future deliberations of The Environment Agency that could, in turn, lead to the lowering, ditching or destruction of some or all of The Cambridgeshire Lodes."

More than 700 people have signed up to an on-line petition to save the lodes.

Mr Woollard has said he will personally present the petition to the Prime Minister or witness South East Cambridgeshire MP Jim Paice present it to Parliament.

The petition can be found at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/OurLODES/