Hinckley Point plan in trouble?

Plans to build the UKs first nuclear power station for 20 years in the West Country have been hit by a barrage of new criticism. Police have warned that the massive construction project will become the focus of major protests, while anti-nuclear campaigners say that plans by EDF Energy to construct two reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset are “stumbling”, with “30 major issues” still unresolved.

In a submission to the National Infrastructure Directorate (the body with the power to approve the plans), Avon and Somerset constabulary says the French company has not offered enough money to pay for officers who will be diverted to police demonstrations and fight ‘a wave of crime and disorder’. The force claims that EDF’s view of the socio-economic impact of the plant is “understated”.