A NEW nuclear power station for Oldbury has won government backing.

Energy secretary Ed Miliband announced yesterday that Oldbury was one of ten preferred sites selected for the continued generation of nuclear power.

Mr Miliband said: "The threat of climate change means we need to make a transition from a system that relies heavily on high carbon fossil fuels, to a radically different system that includes nuclear, renewable and clean coal power.

"Change is also needed for energy security. In a world where our North Sea reserves are declining, a more diverse low carbon energy mix is a more secure energy mix, less vulnerable to fluctuations in the availability of any one fuel.

"In exploiting new technologies we can also lock green jobs and growth, not carbon, into the UK’s future energy sector."

The Oldbury site was nominated for inclusion in the government’s list earlier this year by energy giant E.ON, which owns approximately 150-acres of land near Oldbury at Shepperdine.

Government officials hope the new generation of nuclear power stations will be up and running by 2025.

*For more reaction see this week's Gazette.