The Government Will Ignore Public Opinion on Bradwell! Documents seen by the Courier state that public opinion on the new build at Bradwell will be “overridden” by the national government. An item in the Agenda of Essex County Council’s Economic Development and Environment Policy & Scrutiny Committee in Feb 2010 identifies the government’s decision that: “The Government recognises that the Habitat Regulations assessment has not been able to rule out adverse impacts on sites of European nature conservation importance [but has] however concluded that there is an Imperative Reason of Overriding Public Interest [IROPI] that favours the inclusion of Bradwell in the NPS despite the inability to rule out adverse effects on European sites at this stage.” In plain English: the government will ignore and over-ride any objections made by the local community despite its own assessors having recognized that the new build will damage the environment. Elsewhere in the document the government recognizes that: “the Appraisal of Sustainability cannot rule out adverse effects on sites and species considered to be of European nature conservation importance. Potential adverse effects on the Dengie SPA/Ramsar site, Blackwater Estuary Ramsar Site, Colne Estuary SPA/Ramsar Site and the Essex Estuaries SAC through impacts on water resources and quality, air quality, habitat and species loss. “ (Our italics.) Again in plain English: the government knows that the new build will wreak havoc on the local environment and marine ecology but intends to go ahead with it anyway. Our own Mersea Island Environmental Alliance (MIEA), together with WMTC and BANGG, has achieved a significant victory over Magnox and the Environment Agency (EA) already, forcing the EA to delay granting the permit to discharge undiluted nuclear waste into the estuary until at least mid-February. The discharges were due to start on Jan 5th, but a co-ordinated campaign by the MIEA exposed the failures in process by the EA. The EA can’t proceed while there is new evidence being researched, and the MIEA is producing that new evidence by funding a peer review of the EA’s consultation documents: the 250MB of unsearchable, unindexed documents revealed in previous Couriers. MIEA leader Graham Farley is confident that if the EA can be taken to a Judicial Review they can be stopped altogether from pumping undiluted waste from Bradwell, Dungeness and Sizewell into the same water our children swim in, and is appealing for donations to cover the cost. Barristers are ready to take on the case and are confident that it can be won. As it concerns environmental matters, the liability of those bringing the case is limited to £5,000. Some of the UK’s largest marine ecological bodies will match whatever funding the local community raises, so any and all donations, no matter how small, are welcome. Graham has funded the work so far out of his own pocket: a true David standing up to the Goliath of corporate might and government indifference.
Mersea Island Courier February 2017 read more »