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Somerset church would ‘become’ island if ‘ham-fisted’ Hinkley saltmarsh plans go-ahead

Sunday 17th November 

 Somerset church would ‘become’ island if ‘ham-fisted’ Hinkley saltmarsh
plans go-ahead. Steve Bridger (Yatton, Independent), a local councillor for
the village on North Somerset Council, told a full meeting of the council
on November 12 that the plan was “ham-fisted.”

He said: “Landowners
who would be directly impacted by the proposals were sent letters in
September, completely out of the blue, with a rather threatening tone
talking about compulsory purchase of their land.” When Somerset’s new
nuclear power station was granted planning permission, it was told to
install speakers to scare off fish from getting sucked into its cooling
systems.

But EDF now says this would be “dangerous to install,” and
wants to compensate for the 44 tonnes of fish expected to die each year by
creating 340 hectares of saltmarsh along the Severn. Peter Burden
(Portishead South, Conservative) told the council chamber: “It is crazy,
chairman, to destroy habitat to mitigate for killing fish.”

 West Somerset Free Press 17th Nov 2024, https://www.wsfp.co.uk/news/somerset-church-would-become-island-if-ham-fisted-hinkley-saltmarsh-plans-go-ahead-739509

November 22, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, UK