EDF's Hinkley "C" Proposals

The F21 Steering Group made a decision recently to support the Stop Hinkley Campaign in their plans to mount a legal challenge.

They are objecting to the beginning of preparatory work on the site of Hinkley C, the destruction of 400 acres of Somerset Coastland, prior to planning permission being given for the Power Station. 

As you know Forum 21 is not a campaigning group and does not take an anti nuclear stance.  However one of our environmental consultants has outlined for you below why we feel a legal challenge is a worthwhile cause to support.

If you would like to support their legal challenge please go to www.stophinkley.org and click on 'enter the site'  where you will find a number of ways to make a donation..

Joint Impact Local Report

TheExamination that began last month of proposals for a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point and associated development. The three councils (Sedgemoor, West Somerset and Somerset County) are finalising their joint Local Impact Report (LIR) and we have spoken to representatives of parish and town councils on a number occasions about the way the LIR is being drafted and its likely contents. We would still like to hear from anyone who thinks we might be missing something crucial.

 

We now have dates, times and an idea of format for the open floor hearings the Planning Inspectorate is holding in May. Once again it would be really helpful to know if your members are intending to speak at any of these. It would seem sensible to make sure the opportunities are used effectively because speaking time has been limited to three minutes each and we know from the Preliminary Meeting that the Panel is not receptive to repetition.

 

Open floor hearings are planned for:

May 9 10am & 2pm at Bridgwater College, Cannington campus

May 10 10am & 2pm at Otterhampton Village Hall

May 16 10am & 7pm at Bridgwater Town Hall

May 17 10am & 2pm at Stogursey Victory Hall

 

Interested parties wishing to attend these hearings must inform the Planning Inspectorate by 5pm on Friday May 4 indicating which session they wish to attend, whether they wish to speak and if so what they intend to raise. This information along with the person’s reference number should go to the Case Manager, Mark Wilson. Registration for each session opens an hour beforehand.

  

Vicky Banham
Communications manager - Major Projects Office
Strategy and Business Services

Sedgemoor District Council | Bridgwater House | King Square | Bridgwater | TA6 3AR
Email: vicky.banham@sedgemoor.gov.uk

www.sedgemoor.gov.uk/majorprojects 

Forum 21's Letter of support to Stop Hinkley written by Graham Boswell: 

Forum 21 is outraged by the proposal of EDF to totally destroy the landscape along with all the wildlife as part of the site preparation works. The fact that the biodiversity of the site is been destroyed before planning permission has been obtained for Hinkley C is totally unacceptable.

Habitat destruction on the proposed site is almost total. All plant communities above ground will be removed and all available habitats to animals lost for many years. Soil and regolyth will be removed along with all soil dwelling organisms. The total number of species lost from this site is likely to be in excess of 1000 existing the local trend of wildlife decline.
Biodiversity is declining rapidly in the UK, as elsewhere in the world. It is of paramount importance that development benefits wildlife, rather than contributing to its on-going losses. Furthermore, International and National Policy reflect the need to ensure that no net loss in biodiversity results because of development. For example, nowhere in the application is the total biodiversity loss stated. Baseline ecological data for many major groups are missing. Notable omissions are those for small mammals, bryophytes, lichens, fungi and soil arthropods. How can EDF demonstrate that there has been no net loss in biodiversity under PPS9, if baseline data has not been established?

Forum 21 conclude that EDF have failed to present a proposal that reflects their stated environmental responsibility and are driving forward an application which disregards the wildlife interests on this site and the broader landscape. Effects on surrounding habitats are largely unknown. We do not share EDFs confidence in the opinion of its ecological consultants of the species presence and abundance at the development site. The estimates regarding the impact of wildlife on the site are largely unsubstantiated. It is of extreme concern that EDF find it acceptable to best guess on the ecological impact of the surrounding habitats; especially where a proposed development site is surrounded by so many ecological sites of International and National importance. 

Please go to www.stophinkley.org and click on 'enter the site'  where you will find a number of ways to make a donation. 

Forum 21 has submitted a formal objection to the Hinkley Point (Temporary Jetty) HEO Works Application: you can view or download the document here: Forum 21 Objection to the Temporary Jetty Works Application.

Forum 21 has submitted a formal objection to the Hinkley Point Preliminary Works Application: you can view or download the document here: Forum 21 Objection to the Preliminary Works Application.

Forum 21's position statement on the proposed new Hinkley C nuclear power station was agreed at the beginning of 2010 and can be viewed or downloaded here: Forum 21 Position Statement on Hinkley C.

Three photographs of the countryside which will be effected are shown below. We thank Paul Glendell who
took the photographs for his permission to reproduce them here. There is a link to the Stop Hinkley website
on our links page.

Images Copyright 2010 Paul Glendell: not to be reproduced without permission