Tim Proudler of Eon/Horizon letter to Ms Janke---Leader of Bristol City Council

Tim Proudler sent a letter to Barbara Janke , Council Leader, offering to speak to Councillors in Bristol about the Nuclear Power Station at Oldbury.

Well done to Mark Wright for stimulating their interest.

Thanks to all of our supporters who turned up to The Council House---The next venue will be Thornbury on the 6th.

Dear Ms Janke




Development of a potential new nuclear power station at Oldbury on

Severn, South Gloucestershire

We understand that the development of new nuclear power stations will be

debated at Bristol City Council’s meeting tomorrow. In advance of this

meeting we thought it would be useful for us to provide an update on our

project at Oldbury along with an overview of the public engagement

activity we have carried out in addition to that by the Department for

Energy & Climate Change.

Although our project is in the early stages, we would like to assure you

that we are committed to developing an open, honest relationship with

the local communities and local councils near to Oldbury. To this end

weare keen to meet with Bristol City councillors to discuss the scheme

and answer questions on the project and are liaising with the Democratic

Services Office to set this up.



In the meantime, I hope you find the information set out below of use.





Horizon Nuclear Power



Horizon Nuclear Power Ltd, the joint venture established by E.ON UK and

RWE npower, is developing proposals for a new nuclear power station at

Oldbury. The company is working to deliver around 6,000 MW of new

nuclear capacity in the UK by 2025 and, in addition to Oldbury, it has

also secured land at Wylfa on Anglesey, North Wales.



Providing sufficient electrical output to power a city the size of

Greater London, Horizon Nuclear Power’s £15bn investment programme in

new nuclear build could create up to 11,000 jobs across both sites,

including up to 800 permanent jobs at each site. Our shareholders have

interests in 23 nuclear power stations in Germany and Sweden and jointly

own three stations in Germany.

Government’s Strategic Siting Assessment and Draft Nuclear National

Policy Statement

In March last year we wrote to advise Ms Ormondroyd, Chief Executive of

Bristol City Council that landadjacent to the existing power station at

Oldbury was to be nominated into a process called Strategic Siting

Assessment (SSA). Through this process, the Government aimed to identify

strategically suitable locations for new nuclear power stations.

Following receipt of 11 site nominations, the Government published its

draft Nuclear National Policy Statement (NPS) in November 2009. Of the

11 sites nominated, 10 sites, including Oldbury, made it through and are

listed in the draft Nuclear NPS.



The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is currently carrying

out a series of local and national events consulting on the draft

Nuclear NPS. As part of this process it is holding a three day

exhibition in Thornbury between Thursday 4th and Saturday 6th February.

The closing date for responses on the draft NPS is 22nd February 2010

and the Government is expected to publish its final NPS later this year.





Local Engagement Activity



Whilst our development proposals are still in the early stages, we are

keen to engage with local people from the earliest point in the

project’s development. Therefore, during 2009 Horizon Nuclear Power

initiated a number of informal activities to begin engagement with the

local communities close to the site at Oldbury.



We will continue these activities as the project progresses, which to

date have included public exhibitions; a drop-in surgery session;

newsletters, (copies of which have been sent to Ms Ormondroyd); a

are also planning activity across a wider geographical area surrounding

the site at Oldbury. This will include, among other areas, the City of

Bristol.



Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Scoping Report



In November last year we submitted a request for an Environmental Impact

Assessment (EIA) ‘Scoping Opinion’ to the newly formed Infrastructure

Planning Commission (IPC). The request was accompanied by an EIA Scoping

Report, a high level document that sets out the environmental studies

and surveys we propose to carry out in order to assess the potential

impacts of a new nuclear power station at Oldbury. The report is

available to view at www.eon-uk.com/oldbury.



The local exhibitions we held around the Oldbury area last November and

December included an overview of the issues covered in the EIA Scoping

Report.



The IPC consulted with various statutory bodies on our Scoping Report

and provided us with a Scoping Opinion which can be downloaded from

their website –

infrastructure.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/ProgrammeofProjects-5-Jan1.pdf.





Future Public Consultation



Any future planning application for a new nuclear power station at

Oldbury would be submitted to the Infrastructure Planning Commission

(IPC).



Before an application can be submitted, the developer must consult

widely with statutory and non-statutory groups, as well as local

communities, in order to refine theproposal and resolve as many issues

as possible.This means that as more information becomes available, our

normal engagement activities will be supplemented by more formal

processes in which we will be seeking input and feedback on our plans.

Whilst we would always commit to engaging regularly with local

communities, this new planning regime for nationally significant

projects formalises this requirement.



The first stage in pre-application is to agree with relevant local

authorities how the consultation will be carried out. This will be set

out in a Statement of Community Consultation (SOCC), which will be

developed and agreed with relevant local authorities before it is

published.



A SOCC has already been produced for the proposed new station at Hinkley

Point in Somerset, which is at a more advanced stage in the development

process than our scheme at Oldbury.



The new Infrastructure Planning Regime



We appreciate that the new planning regime is unfamiliar to many, so

we’ve developed a document which outlines in very broad terms the

different stages in the process and includes a diagram showing where

individuals and local communities have the opportunity to have their say

on our proposals. This document was circulated to Oldbury Parish Council

and South Gloucestershire Council recently and I attach a copy now for

your information.



As the diagram’s timeline shows, there are a number of potential

milestones scheduled for 2010. As mentioned above, we are liaising with

boththe Democratic Services Manager, and Ms Ormondroyd’soffice to

further our discussions with Bristol City Council as part of our overall

engagement. In closing, I would like to reiterate that our plans are

still in the early stages and no formal pre-application public

consultation has yet taken place.



We look forward to meeting with you soon. In the meantime if you have

any queries please contact our freephone number 0800 130 3125 0800 130 3125 or email

us at oldburyenquiries@horizonnuclearpower.com



Yours sincerely







Tim Proudler

Planning and Consents Manager





cc:

Cllr H Holland

Cllr R Eddy

Cllr M Wright

Ms Ormondroyd

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