Last week I visited Hinkley Point to get an update on construction and, much more importantly, to discuss how the project was impacting on Somerset. The construction work is seriously impressive and it was also reassuring to hear that the identical reactor in Taishan is now in its final testing phase and should be operational very soon.
However, as impressive as the construction site is, what really matters to us in Somerset is how the build benefits our local economy, how we mitigate the more detrimental impacts and what the legacy of this enormous project will be. Readers living in the Cheddar Valley will not need me to tell them how many quarry lorries are now trundling past their houses and its recently been announced that local tourism accommodation will be used for accommodating the large workforce required on site. This will have an impact in Burnham, Berrow and Brean. Moreover, the pylon line that plugs Hinkley into the National Grid will run straight through northern Sedgemoor as well.
Huge amounts of money have been spent on improving infrastructure in the immediate vicinity of the site but nothing was spent preparing the roads in the Cheddar Valley. That lack of foresight is lamentable and the ‘Magic Roundabout’ in Cheddar is already showing that it simply is not able to cope with this increased amount of HGV traffic.
Significantly more money is committed to mitigating the impacts of Hinkley but this cash has been placed in the care of the Somerset Community Foundation (SCF) who will distribute it to worthy causes across the county. Applicants will have to demonstrate that there is some sort of Hinkley-related impact but ultimately there is no guarantee that the money will go where the Hinkley impact is most acute.
This was all agreed long before I was elected to office but I have spoken to the leadership at Sedgemoor District Council about demanding a revision of the terms under which the SCF distributes these funds. We simply cannot leave to chance that the significant funds that are available will be distributed proportionately to where the negative impacts are being felt.
Instead, and before any more money is spent, a heat map needs to be produced showing exactly where the impact of the Hinkley construction is being felt. That map will show that for some parts of Somerset the impact of Hinkley on their community will be no greater than the impact of the construction of Sizewell or Bradwell in East Anglia. Equally, the map will show that other parts of the county – whilst not within the immediate vicinity of the site – are carrying a disproportionate burden in terms of HGV traffic, construction of supporting infrastructure or accommodating the workforce.
Once that heat map is produced, the SCF must be required to award funds to the communities that are being most adversely impacted. This is not another pot of money for grants to worthy projects or those who are best at producing bids that tick all the right boxes; this is money to help the communities impacted by Hinkley construction. It should be spent exclusively in those areas.