Lincolnshire County Council’s leader has announced intentions to withdraw from Nuclear Waste Services’ Community Partnership.
This would effectively cancel the company’s consideration of the Lincolnshire coast for a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF).
Cllr Martin Hill OBE, leader of Lincolnshire County Council, said: “When we took up Nuclear Waste Services’ (NWS, then called ‘Radioactive Waste Management’) invitation to join a working group in 2021, we did so with an open mind, knowing that residents themselves could make the decision as to whether it was right for the area.
“We wanted residents to be able to understand the full extent of the opportunities and consequences that would come with the building of a GDF in Lincolnshire.
“At that time, the site earmarked for the development was an old gas terminal in Theddlethorpe – a brownfield site. Since then, the area that NWS is considering for the entry point to the GDF has shifted to open farmland, a couple of miles up the coast and further inland.
“This changes the very nature of the proposal and, understandably, raised further concerns within the local community.
“Whilst we have tried to maintain an open mind towards the plans, we are now several years on from this first being suggested, and big questions still remain to be answered about the scale of the development and how this waste would get there.
“We had planned to put the decision on whether to remain within the partnership to a public vote next year, but it has become increasingly apparent that the community is getting frustrated with the uncertainty and slow pace of this process.
“Unless NWS can provide significant further details about their plans that would reassure the local community and comprehensively explain the benefits and costs, it is my intention to withdraw from the process altogether.
“This will need to be a formal decision, taken at a meeting of the council’s Executive.
“NWS require at least one of the local councils to remain involved in the working group in order to progress the Lincolnshire GDF option. Following East Lindsey District Council’s withdrawal from the group earlier this month, our decision would effectively cancel NWS’ plans to build a nuclear waste facility in Lincolnshire.”
The company are clear that they need a ‘willing community’ to build this facility and other locations in the UK are being considered for a GDF.
Picture shows Cllr Martin Hill OBE, leader of Lincolnshire County Council. Image credit: Lincolnshire County Council
