EDF plans for a £4bn nuclear power plant are facing their second and final round of public scrutiny
Somerset really got the power to
derail the plans of EDF, the world’s
largest nuclear power generator?
Local opposition groups have
already had some success in
causing
EDF to make changes to
its plans (see box below).
The Save Cannington Action
Group has successfully petitioned
against a temporary workers
camp being built in Cannington
village, seven miles from Hinkley.
The last nuclear power station to
be built in the UK, Sizewell B,
spent six years stuck in the planning
system with only 30 days
addressing local issues.
EDF Energy is now already in its
second 12-week public consultation
for its plans to build a new
£4 billion nuclear power plant at
Hinkley Point in Somerset.
October deadline
The deadline for responses to the
latest consultation is 4 October,
which will also be the final deadline
for the public to express their
concerns prior to EDF lodging a
planning application for the new
power plant, which is expected to
happen in December.
The thrust of the government’s
ideas for the future of the planning
system is rooted in localism,
with decisions to be taken by
local planning authorities and
communities.
But has the local population in
Meanwhile the Stop Hinkley
action group told Construction
News it is exploring possible legal
action to block the plans to build
the new nuclear plant and is currently
in talks with barristers.
“It is a bit like trying to stop a
juggernaut,” says Stop Hinkley coordinator
Jim Duffy.
“It is all pretty technical stuff.
We are talking to barristers at the
moment about what we can do to
stop it, but the average Joe doesn’t
stand a chance really.”
Anti-nuclear focus
Mr Duffy stressed his group are
not a nimby organisation but an
anti-nuclear group, and therefore
would be open to some other
forms of power generation in the
area.
Local MP for Bridgwater and
West Somerset Iain Liddell-
Grainger is not opposed to the
plans in principle, but says compensation
would be needed for
putting a “new power station
slap-bang in the middle of
England’s countryside”.
The government has already
stressed it will provide no subsidy
for new nuclear power development
in the UK, leaving it up to
energy companies to fund, build,
operate and decommission the
plants themselves.
EDF claims to have carried out
one of the most extensive and
wide-ranging nuclear power station
consultations in the UK.
True representation
It is at great pains to stress that
this is a very real consultation and
the application will pass through
the Infrastructure Planning
Commission and an inquiry process
before being determined.
So how does the localism
agenda fit with the Hinkley Point
scheme? The Green Paper Open
Source Planning says localism is
about democratic and local control
of the planning system, and
that is the core principle.
Nick
Whitten
Nuclear
Hinkley Point’s existing nuclear plant
EDF has made a number of changes
to its plans to build two new reactors
at Hinkley Point since its initial
12-week public consultation between
November 2009 and January 2010.
The key changes, which will be
detailed in EDF Energy’s ‘Preferred
Proposals’ published on 9 July, are:
n The southern limit of the main
construction activity has been moved
further north, in response to requests
from residents.
n Early woodland planting will also
take place to the south of the new
construction fence and a landscaping
bund (area of raised ground) will
screen the on-site accommodation
campus.
n Accommodation campuses for
workers are no longer planned for
surrounding villages and are now
concentrated in Bridgwater and on
the Hinkley Point C Development Site.
n Freight logistics facilities are
focused on sites near junctions 23
and 24 of the M5 and at Combwich
Wharf.
n The western route has been
selected for the Cannington bypass.
n No accommodation campus is
planned at Cannington.
n There will not be a freight logistics
facility at Cannington.
n The size of the park and ride facility
at Cannington has been reduced and
this will now be a temporary facility
used during the construction phase
and removed afterwards.
n No accommodation campus is
planned at Williton following
feedback from local residents.
n The size of the park and ride facility
at Williton has been reduced and this
will now be a temporary facility used
during the construction phase and
removed afterwards.
n Off-site accommodation campuses
will be located on two brownfield
sites in Bridgwater.
n The park and ride facility at
junction 24 of the M5 has been
expanded.
n Freight logistics facilities will now
be located only at junctions 23 and 24
of the M5 and Combwich Wharf.
Views can be given at the public
exhibition events and will be fed into
the consultation. More information:
However, there is no plan to
make infrastructure proposals, in
effect, local matters.
In fact, the IPC is being
recreated
in a new guise within
the Planning Inspectorate, with
decisions being taken at national
level, first in terms of the planning
policy framework against
which the particular applications
for infrastructure are judged, and
second by determining applications
for these schemes at a
national level through the secretary
of state.
Planning and real estate specialist
at law firm Beachcroft Nick
Knapman argues localism is
always going to be at odds with
the most contentious applications
where the weight of local feeling
will be strongly for or against a
development.
He says: “One cannot help but
feel that, if true localism were
Anticipated construction activity,
subject to relevant approvals
2010
Enabling works on site
2011
Preliminary works on site
2012
Start of main construction
2014-16
Peak construction activity
2018
First nuclear reactor operational
2019-20
Second nuclear reactor operational.
Removal of temporary structures with
land restoration beginning
“It would seem it Timeline
is going to be a
case of localism
for all but major
infrastructure
projects”
Nick knap man , bea chcroft
applied, then this decision would
be taken by local councillors who
would decide the planning merits
of the case along local lines,
being influenced by the weight of
local opinion for or against the
development.
“Localism, the coalition says,
starts in grass-root decisions
about how an area is developed
through its development plan
against which planning applications
are judged.
“At that stage, local residents
will influence planning policy to
determine the future planning of
their area.
“However, with Hinkley Point,
the decision-making is being
taken away from local residents,
since planning policy is set out in
national planning guidance and
policy against which decisions are
taken.
“So is it would seem it is going
to be a case of localism for all but
major infrastructure projects.”
n The overall Hinkley Point
construction programme is
expected to take up to 10 years.
n The construction process should
boost the South-west economy by
more than £500 million, providing
jobs for up to 5,000 construction
workers.
n The new power station will also
create 900 permanent jobs during
its 60-year operation, injecting a
further £40m a year into the local
economy.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment