Public consultation meeting
Attended the pulic consultation meeting this evening at Sellafield on the proposed National Planning Policy statement on Nuclear power and specifically the proposal that Sellafield should be one of the potential sites for new build.
There were about a hundred people there and a very intelligent and well informed debate.
The vast majority of speakers from the floor were at pains to stress that they supported nuclear new build in principle but they raised a lot of issues.
A large number of speakers supported new build at Sellafield but not at Braystones or Kirksanton.
A lot of speakers (including myself) made points about infrastructure and particularly transport and roads. We said that we wanted this sorted at an early stage and it would not be acceptable to agree nuclear power first and then address road improvements as an afterthought.
The people running the consultation meeting noted that although they often get this point it had been made particularly strongly this evening and they would not this for the Infrastructure Planning Commission which will decide on any planning application.
Other key points made and discussed included
* need to have a joined up policy with respect of the separate consultation on nuclear waste
* concerns about the environmental impact on the Irish Sea, particularly on fish and of the thermal bloom, especially if there are three sites in Cumbria and not just one
* Also concerns about the River Ehen
* There will be a significant visual impact on the National Park and we must do what we can to mitigate it.
* Grid capacity issues
* cumulative impact if Kirksanton and/or Braystones are also developed
The next meeting in the series will be at Whitehaven Civic Hall on Saturday morning to discuss the Braystones site, and the following Saturday there will be a meeting in Millom to discuss Kirksanton. People wanting to attend are asked to pre-book cia the DECC website.
The consultation is open until 22nd February.
There were about a hundred people there and a very intelligent and well informed debate.
The vast majority of speakers from the floor were at pains to stress that they supported nuclear new build in principle but they raised a lot of issues.
A large number of speakers supported new build at Sellafield but not at Braystones or Kirksanton.
A lot of speakers (including myself) made points about infrastructure and particularly transport and roads. We said that we wanted this sorted at an early stage and it would not be acceptable to agree nuclear power first and then address road improvements as an afterthought.
The people running the consultation meeting noted that although they often get this point it had been made particularly strongly this evening and they would not this for the Infrastructure Planning Commission which will decide on any planning application.
Other key points made and discussed included
* need to have a joined up policy with respect of the separate consultation on nuclear waste
* concerns about the environmental impact on the Irish Sea, particularly on fish and of the thermal bloom, especially if there are three sites in Cumbria and not just one
* Also concerns about the River Ehen
* There will be a significant visual impact on the National Park and we must do what we can to mitigate it.
* Grid capacity issues
* cumulative impact if Kirksanton and/or Braystones are also developed
The next meeting in the series will be at Whitehaven Civic Hall on Saturday morning to discuss the Braystones site, and the following Saturday there will be a meeting in Millom to discuss Kirksanton. People wanting to attend are asked to pre-book cia the DECC website.
The consultation is open until 22nd February.
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