Hitachi- from the country that brought the world Fukushima

Hitachi- from the country that brought the world Fukushima
We feel very sad for the people of Japan who want to end nuclear energy whilst a potential new government and big business are desperate for it

No Fukushima at Oldbury

No to Fukushima at Shepperdine!

No to Fukushima at Shepperdine!
オールド全く福島ません

Friday, 20 August 2010

The Hinkley communities point the way ...............

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.

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