By Alan Irving

Last updated at 16:35, Thursday, 04 February 2010

ENERGY giants RWE npower have been accused of causing property blight in the two areas it had earmarked for potential nuclear new-build.

It follows the company’s declaration this week that it had no specific plans and was scrapping its current agreements to supply power to the national grid from the “potentially suitable” Braystones and Kirksanton sites.

Letters dropped through residents’ letter boxes in the two areas on Tuesday telling them of the twist in development. But RWE’s announcement has been criticised for being ambiguous and confusing.

The company has already bought farm land at both Braystones and Kirksanton.

Local councillors Yvonne and Norman Clarkson and David Moore have all accused RWE of causing blight. They are calling on the company to drop its plans altogether.

“It’s absolutely scandalous,” said Mr Clarkson, who lives at Calderbridge and is on the county council’s nuclear working group. “The game definitely is up, they have to pull out,” he said. “Most people are saying ‘yes’ to Sellafield but ‘no’ to the two other sites – those people who want reactors at Braystones and Kirksanton can only see more and more jobs but it shouldn’t be at the expense of people’s lives and their properties.”

Mr Clarkson said that if RWE did go ahead it should pay compensation to property owners who are unable to sell their homes.

David Moore, of Seascale, who is chairman of the West Cumbria (nuclear) Stakeholders Group, accused RWE of bringing a threat of blight over the two villages.

He said: “Some people who want to sell up are already having problems, so is this situation going to go on for decades until RWE finally makes up its mind? If so, we’re not going to accept it.

“From what RWE are saying it is tantamount to putting an axe over people’s head for maybe years ahead. Best thing they can do now is pull out of both sites, leave it to Sellafield, and give people’s their lives back.”

Copeland MP Jamie Reed said yesterday he wanted an urgent meeting with RWE to clear up the position. “It is not fair on residents, the public or local businesses to be expected to live with the question of ‘will they, won’t they’ for the next 10 to 25 years,” he said.

“I don’t believe either Braystones or Kirksanton will be developed – time, economics and local public opinion are against it, both sites appear to be red herrings.

“We need to focus our efforts and resources into ensuring new-build begins on the Sellafield land in 2015.”

RWE npower says it has chosen not to maintain current grid connections “but could put new agreements in place to allow development by 2025”.

Alison Chappell, head of RWE’s nuclear development, said: “At the moment it’s not possible to commit to specific plans. This is true for most of the sites being considered for new nuclear build across the country. We’re still considering the situation and inclusion in the government’s list of candidate sites is an important milestone in that process.

“In the meantime, though, maintaining our current grid connections could mean large and rising extra costs.

“It’s only sensible to avoid this risk and re-negotiate connection agreements once we are in position to confirm our plans.”

REW npower was confident its sites at Braystones and Kirksanton represented strong opportunities for development in the ‘first wave’ of new power stations.

Another company spokeswoman later told The Whitehaven News: “We can’t promise any significant announcements in the near future but we certainly intend to have further meetings and discussions in the coming months to be as clear as we can about where we stand. This is unfortunately a long and complicated process.

“As soon as we possibly can we will provide more information about how we intend to progress in Cumbria and what that will mean for local people. Nothing will happen without first informing and consulting local people.”

But Mr Moore claimed that RWE was “not good at talking to the community” and stakeholders did not have confidence in what the company had said so far.

First published at 15:46, Wednesday, 03 February 2010
Published by http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk