Power station may be approved within year

THE proposed new power station at Hinkley Point could be approved in as little as three months, from the date its planning application is submitted.

Changes to the planning system could reduce approval times for new nuclear power stations to just three months.

In a commons debate called by Bridgwater Conservative MP, and Hinkley supporter, Ian Liddell-Grainger, Energy Minister Charles Hendry promised the coalition government's changes to planning rules will not mean development plans for new reactors suffer long delays.

He also said the government is considering compensating communities with sites nearby, which could be worth tens of millions of pounds a year for places near Hinkley Point.

Mr Liddell-Grainger said the new power station would be the biggest engineering operation ever in the South West and bring hundreds of jobs to Bridgwater.

He urged the government to keep some of the high business rates that EDF will have to pay, which could amount to as much as £40 million a year.

This would help pay for projects such as a new road for the huge number of lorries travelling to Hinkley Point during construction of the new nuclear power station.

EDF's planning application is not expected to be submitted until the winter or early next year.

EDF hopes to build the Hinkley reactors by 2018. The Energy Minister wants new reactors to be both built, operated and decommissioned without public subsidy.

Anti-nuclear campaigners, such as Jim Duffy of Stop Hinkley, believe public subsidies are necessary, particularly for ensuring strict controls on the disposal of nuclear waste.

EDF's consultation closes on October 4.

Sedgemoor and West Somerset district councils are holding public meetings on the Hinkley Point development proposal, from July 27 to August 26.