Council Challenges Power Station Proposals

A hard-hitting response has been sent to the government by Shepway District Council challenging the decision to exclude Dungeness as a site for a new nuclear power station.

The government's Draft National Policy Statement for Nuclear Power Creation proposes to reject the Dungeness site on environmental grounds. But in response to a call for written evidence, the council says the argument for excluding the Shepway site is based on flawed information.

A council-commissioned report argues that using the wrong unemployment statistics was one of a number of errors that combined to ‘seriously understate' the need for a new station at Dungeness and the benefits it would bring to the district. Any socio-economic consequences that were recognised were poorly analysed, says the report.

"This is a vitally important shortcoming, particularly in the case of Dungeness as the current decommissioning of A station and closure of B station from 2018 are key threats to the area's future prosperity and its already fragile economy."

The report also argues that the government has ignored the local community support for Dungeness and that it is ‘premature' to conclude the Natural England's objections over the loss of vegetated shingle habitat could not be addressed.

"By the government's own definition, there is an Imperative Reason of Over-riding Public Interest to justify the inclusion of Dungeness, despite the ecological concerns," says the report.

Leader of the Council, Robert Bliss, said the report presented very strong grounds for a review of the decision to exclude Dungeness.

"We have stressed the very heavy local dependence on the nuclear industry and that a new station at Dungeness is vital to ensure a sustainable future for local communities," said Cllr Bliss. "If Dungeness is not included as a site for a new station, this council calls on the government to explain what intervention packages it will put in place to ensure that the loss of existing prosperity and the loss of future opportunity is mitigated against."

To read Shepway District Council's Cabinet Report click here: Cabinet Report - Dungeness Nuclear Power Station

You can read more on the decision by clicking here: Briefing Report 1  Briefing Report 2  National Policy Statement

To view Shepway's Memorandum of Evidence click here: Shepway ECC Evidence