Oldbury forum for locals (From Gazette Series)

Oldbury forum for locals

A NEW forum has been set up aimed at protecting the interests of local people during the operation and future decommissioning of Oldbury nuclear power station.

The change, which comes in the wake of the station's recent transfer to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, sees the creation of a new independent Site Stakeholders Group (SSG), replacing the old Local Community Liaison Council.

At the final meeting of the joint Oldbury and Berkeley LCLC recently, it was decided that the two plants should each have their own independent SSG - and these were duly inaugurated with immediate effect.

Both appointed interim independent chairmen for the first year of operation and received draft constitutions and codes of practice which will be modified if necessary in the light of the first year's experience.

Oldbury station spokesman Sallie-Anne Beere said the role of the new body was to give local people information relevant to their daily lives and the chance to express opinions on the station's activities.

"The current membership is mainly councillors appointed as representatives by their parish, town, or district council," she said. "An early task of the new SSG will be to review this membership to ensure it is truly representative of the communities and activities within Oldbury's sphere of influence."

She said the new forum would be acting in an "open and transparent" way and had plans for community meetings.

Oldbury's two Magnox reactors - only one of which is currently operating - are due to be switched off for the last time in December 2008 when the station will be 40-years-old.

All nuclear fuel will be removed from the site by November 2010 and the station will enter a period of care and maintenance in January 2024.

For further information contact Sallie-Anne Beere, Oldbury Power Station Site Stakeholder Group, Oldbury Power Station, Oldbury Naite, South Glos, BS35 1RQ.