‘No’ to nuclear and ‘yes’ to green energy

EDF have created 3,000 new jobs. Hooray! What they mean is... that their plans went badly wrong before Covid.

As a result of this, in EDF’s own figures, in Bridgwater alone the number of non home-based workers needing accommodation will rise from 310 to 1,630. That is a 300% rise.

There is no spare accommodation in the Bridgwater area. EDF’s worker hostels are full. My friend and her family were evicted from their rented house in Bridgwater to make way for Hinkley workers two years ago. This situation will impact on the whole of West Somerset.

Mitigation money was given to the local authorities which they could have used to build new social housing, but they didn’t. EDF have already used up all the available local construction workers in the immediate area, including South Wales, and are competing with HS2 and the Crossrail Link for UK-wide construction workers.

EDF say they will train local people to do the work. Which local people are they planning to train to dig the tunnels, pour concrete and install electronic and steel infrastructure? Retail and hospitality workers, school leavers and care home workers?

The new total of 8,000 jobs will fall to 1,000 to run the power station when it is completed, allegedly in 2027. Less the 900 who lose their jobs when Hinkley B closes next year.

After spending £23 billion, EDF will have created 100 jobs for 60 years at HPC and some incredibly expensive electricity. What industry is going to be created locally over the next seven years for the 8,000 workers to move into? Hopefully a green renewables industry but it’s probably too late. The Swansea Tidal Lagoon would be completed by now if the Government had given it the go ahead, creating cheap electricity for hundreds of years and no radioactive waste.

Don’t forget, even though I live in the idyllic village of Timberscombe high on Exmoor, all of us in the South West will be in the exclusion zone if things go horribly wrong.

Once climate change kicks in,

HPC will still be operational, sitting 36 feet above sea level, storing high level nuclear waste on site for 200 years, 20 minutes as the prevailing wind blows from the SW towards Bristol.

There is still time to change things.

Stop Hinkley, stop Sizewell and save Minsmere. Say ‘no’ to nuclear and ‘yes’ to green energy.

Katy Attwater Spokesperson for ‘Stop Hinkley’ Timberscombe, Exmoor