Unexpected bomb in bagging area!
Supermarket opening hits nuclear hitch
A NEW supermarket to be built just yards from Britain’s main nuclear weapons site could be shelved.
Lidl hopes to open a store 650 yards from the Atomic Weapons Establishment, which maintains the country’s warheads.
But the scheme could be blocked unless store chiefs come up with contingency planning to cope with a “major incident” – including the lockdown of all staff and shoppers for 24 hours.
Planners at West Berkshire Council were so concerned over the store scheme, near Aldermaston, that it has been passed on to district planners.
The AWE is responsible for maintaining warheads for our nuclear deterrent,trident.
It can also dismantle and dispose of warheads, and works with America’s Los Alamos National Laboratory to carry out testing in Nevada. Finally, it can also design new doomsday weapons. Councillors expressed doubts over Lidl’s plans at a recent meeting with the firm’s representative James Mitchell.
Lib Dem Geoff Mayes said families would be stranded in an emergency. He said: “If mothers and fathers are trapped in the site under lockdown, what happens to their kids at schools?”
Mr Mitchell was queried about why Lidl hadn’t already come up with a satisfactory emergency plan. Tory Ross Mackinnon said: “I would’ve thought you would be very keen to present an adequate emergency plan to us.”
Mr Mitchell said the retail giant had made a start, adding: “The issues have been whittled down. I don’t think we’re very far away from getting there.”
Earlier, planner Michael Butler recommended rejecting the scheme. Referring to the possible 24-hour lockdown of shoppers and staff, he said: “Clearly, food and liquids in the store will be easy to obtain but other matters, such as ventilation and waste disposal, have to be taken into account.”
He also cast doubt on staff being able to cope: “Keeping shoppers calm in an evacuation is also important.”