Crunch vote on nuclear dump in Lake District
Plans to bury radioactive waste in Cumbria face growing local opposition. Mike Glover reports
Sunday 27 January 2013
Related articles
Proposals to store nuclear waste under England's largest national park and other areas of outstanding natural beauty will face stormy opposition this week. A decision to abandon or press on with a nuclear waste dump in Cumbria will be made by three councils on Wednesday. The result will have major implications for energy policy, experts warn.
Copeland and Allerdale borough councils and Cumbria County Council will separately vote whether to advance to detailed geological surveys for the dump. Three possible sites – Ennerdale, Eskdale and the Solway Plain – have been identified. All three delayed a vote last November after councillors sought and got government assurances that they could reject the deal later.
But the delay has allowed a dramatic escalation in opposition. Yesterday protesters from Spand (Solway Plain Against Nuclear Dump) presented a 3,600-signature petition to county councillor Tony Markley, who wants the proposals to go to the next stage. In December an online petition attracted more than 6,000 signatories and a series of public meetings has seen a groundswell of opposition. At one meeting, in Keswick this month, 600 people voted to stop the process.
Influential groups including the Lake District National Park Authority and Cumbria Tourism are concerned that the proposed dump is already damaging the Lake District "brand". Park authority chairman Bill Jefferson, in a letter to the energy minister Baroness Verma, warned: "There are growing and increasingly widespread concerns that a repository below the National Park, or indeed the perception of such a proposal, would not be in the long-term interests of the Lake District, its farming and resident communities and visitor economy."
Jack Ellerby, of Friends of the Lake District, said: "Public anxiety, by a wide range of interests and communities potentially affected, about the neutrality of the decision-making process is growing. The process has lost the trust of the people and businesses of Cumbria."
Petition organiser Susan Mathieson, of Ambleside, said: "Voting no would force the Government to take a more responsible attitude in its plans for nuclear expansion – burying the waste out of sight is not the safe answer to this dilemma." Peter Maher, a retired headteacher from Ennerdale, said: "They spent millions on consultation and yet the vast majority who turned up at a meeting locally had very little idea of what was involved. We were horrified."
The Nuclear Industry Association chairman, Lord Hutton, a former Cumbrian MP, has warned that a no vote by councillors would be an injustice for future generations. There is no alternative to a deep underground facility, he argues. Until now, all high-level nuclear waste – spent fuel rods sent by train from the UK's nuclear plants to Sellafield for reprocessing – has been stored in concrete buildings at the plant.
The Government and the industry are anxious for a permanent solution, especially after a National Audit Office report last November concluded an "intolerable risk" was being posed by hazardous waste stored in run-down buildings at Sellafield. A previous site near Sellafield was rejected as unsuitable in 1997.
The most recent idea saw councils asked to volunteer to house the waste but only one area – West Cumbria –has stayed the course. Thousands of local jobs depend on the industry.
-
Have shock jocks gone too far after Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a slut?
-
Former Google exec says he has 100,000 emails showing how 'immoral' company avoids paying UK tax
-
British business: We need to stay in the European Union - or risk losing up to £92bn a year
-
World news in pictures
-
British father faces charges after confessing to slitting his two children's throats in Lyon flat
- 1 Notes from a small island: Is Sealand an independent 'micronation' or an illegal fortress?
- 2 British business: We need to stay in the European Union - or risk losing up to £92bn a year
- 3 The moral case on tax avoidance is overwhelming - and we all know Google wants to do the right thing
- 4 Sam Wallace: The second coming of Jose Mourinho at Chelsea will be a reunion that can only end in tears
- 5 It’s official: thanks to Stephen Hawking's Israel boycott, anti-Semitism is no more
Get your summer started with British Military Fitness
BMF is the UK’s biggest and best loved outdoor fitness classes
Visit York
Find out what The Independent's resident travel expert has to say about one of the most beautiful small cities in the world
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Independent Dating
iJobs General
Finance Governance Manager - Banking - £500pd
£500 per day: Orgtel: A top tier banking client urgently requires Finance Gove...
English & ICT Teacher
Negotiable: Randstad Education Chelmsford: Randstad Education is the market le...
Lecturer in Employability - South East London
£24000 - £28000 per annum: Randstad Education London: A leading Further Educat...
Quant Analyst,Front Office/Risk,London,£500-680pd
£500 - £680 per day: Orgtel: Quantitative Risk Analyst, Front Office/Risk Bank...
Day In a Page
The price of pacifism
Jason Isaacs: Groupies, theatre bores and James Bond
Sealand: 'Micronation' or illegal fortress?
Legend of James Hunt has set Hollywood hearts racing
Macklemore: 'I don't have moderation'


"
width="140"
height="90"
onclick="location.href='http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/germans-blame-angela-merkel-for-poor-eurovision-song-contest-performance-8623289.html';" />





Comments