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THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT VOICE ON NUCLEAR & RENEWABLE ENERGY ISSUES The NUCLEAR FREE LOCAL AUTHORITIES have exposed how the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is manufacturing public consent for a deep hot nuclear dump (or two). This takes the example of what is happening in LIncolnshire but the same tactic is happening here in Cumbria.
The below is from the NFLA Media Release ......
Nuclear Free Local Authorities have questioned why it is that the latest plan to recruit new members of a Theddlethorpe GDF Community Partnership includes no guarantee that more residents will be represented, and why the new body has not now incorporated Mablethorpe into its name as the search area for the nuclear waste dump has now been extended. Nuclear Waste Services, the division of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority responsible for finding a ‘Geological Disposal Facility’, an underground location into which Britain’s nuclear waste will be dumped, has just announced its latest plan to recruit new members to a ‘Community Partnership’.
This involves drawing a third of the new Partnership members from the voluntary sector, a third from the business sector and one third from local authorities, with a representative each from Lincolnshire County Council, East Lindsey District Council, Mablethorpe Town Council and the local Parish Councils. Community partnership members are expected to live or work in the area, which the NFLA fears could create a scenario, where none of the additional members actually live in the proposed search area for the dump. The history to date has not been promising. Under the procedural rules governing the establishment of any future GDF, most decisions will be taken by the two ‘relevant principal local authorities’.
On the GDF Theddlethorpe Working Party, which has taken the proposal forward thus far, both authorities have been represented by Councillors who live and work nowhere near the search area. Lincolnshire County Council has been represented by Council Leader, Councillor Martin Hill OBE, who lives in Kirkby Underwood and represents an electoral ward, Folkingham Rural, which are between 52-55 miles from the search area, whilst East Lindsey District Council is also represented by its Leader, Cllr Craig Leyland, who lives in,and represents,Woodhall Spa, around 32 miles away.
Councillor David Blackburn commented: “The development of this plan is supposedly based on local decision making by local people, yet to date the key decision makers have been two Council Leaders who do not live or work anywhere near the area that would be impacted. “If these two Councils really want to have local voices represented then they should each first offer a local elected Councillor a place on the new Community Partnership; for example, there are three Mablethorpe ward Councillors who sit on East Lindsey District Council.”
The NFLA is also concerned that there are no residency requirements for other new members.Councillor Blackburn added: “It will be difficult to establish a community partnership if there is not a majority of members who actually live in that community. The representatives from the voluntary and business sectors could all be from outside of the area. For example, would Nuclear Waste Services consider an absentee Airbnb property owner with no day-to-day connection with the area a potential member?
It is good that both the Mablethorpe Town Council and local parish councils each get a place at the table, because sadly they may be the only local voices on the panel.”
The NFLA is also critical that Nuclear Waste Services has not recognised through a name change that Mablethorpe is now also part of the search area and,to add insult to injury, has even misspelt the name of the town on the GDF website.Added Councillor Blackburn: “The NWS would not win a spelling bee. This is their second slip up after previously renaming Skegness, ‘Skegross’. The name of this distinguished and historic seaside town is not ‘Mableththorpe’, and the fact that no one could even be bothered to do a spell check does not reflect well on the value that NWS placeson the feelings of local people.
“I would suggest that the agency starts to redeem itself by first correcting the spelling error and by next doing the townsfolk the courtesy of recognising their involvement by changing the name of the new organisation to the Theddlethorpe and Mablethorpe Community Partnership.”
This media release can be found on the NFLA website at https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/why-no-new-residents-and-no-name-change-nfla-questions-latest-plan-to-recruit-for-theddlethorpe-nuclear-waste-dump-group/
The NFLA’s previous media release over the misspelling of Skegness can be found at: https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/skegross-not-so-bracing-spelling-mistake-offends-resort-residents/