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Proposed Hinkley C development

Campaigners against the new Hinkley C nuclear power plant in Somerset have raised concerns over plans to start preparing the proposed site before planning permission is granted.

The Stop Hinkley Campaign Group has raised concerns about plans the energy giant has for the proposed greenfield site they want to develop.

As part the Hinkley C plans, EDF wants to create a plant with two reactors for when the current plant Hinkley B is decommissioned in 2016.

But the campaign group claims they plan to bulldoze and dynamite most of the 435 acre area in preparation - before they get the planning permission to build the new station.
 
Jim Duffy, coordinator of the Stop Hinkley Campaign said: "Much of the site could be demolished and destroyed for no good reason. There's a lot of wildlife on the site, ancient hedgerows, old woodlands, it's the habitat for lots of different species. We think it's really premature and vandalistic."

"They're building on farmland and they'll have to knock down trees. They'll have to get rid of twenty one families of badgers from their habitats. They'll also be concreting a whole stretch of coastline to build a jetty. So there's an enormous amount of destruction about to go on here, possibly for no good reason."

In a statement to us, EDF Energy said that they had indicated for some time that it would be applying for consents to carry out preliminary works, which is entirely in keeping with planning law, policy and practice.
 
It went on to say:
 
"We have already consulted widely on the scope of the preliminary works both with the public and with a range of organisations including environmental and archaeological groups as part of our extensive consultations for the new power station.
 
The relevant authorities will also carry out a consultation on these applications before deciding whether or not to grant consent.
 
Our aim is to make these applications and secure the consents over the coming weeks so that if consent is eventually granted for the power station itself, its construction can commence as early as possible, with the minimum disruption to local communities."

EDF has also stated that it would return the land to how it was if the plant gets rejected.

However, with the excavation of more than 3.2 million cubic metres of soil, sub-soil and rocks - more than has been excavated to prepare the site for the 2012 London Olympic Games - the campaign group argue the natural habitats for hundreds of animals and the loss of historic barns could never be replaced and add that no work should be carried out until the whole development is given the rubber stamp of approval.

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