MORE than 100 people took to the streets of Thornbury last week to protest against plans for a new nuclear power station.

Local people were armed with placards with slogans such as Don’t Blight our Horizon, Save the Severn Vale and No 2 Nuclear.

The group, which included residents, parents, young children, teenagers and older people, walked from Thornbury Town Hall to the Cossham Hall chanting "What do we want? E.ON out. DECC see the light."

The evening protest, held last Thursday, was organised to coincide with a public meeting held by Horizon, at the Cossham Hall.

Horizon, is the name being used by E.ON and RWE NPower, the companies behind plans to build a new nuclear power station at Shepperdine, near Oldbury.

Reg Illingworth, chairman for Shepperdine Against Nuclear Energy (SANE), which organised the protest, said: "We have had a fairly reasonable turn out. People are beginning to realise the impact this development will have."

Steve Freke, from Kington who took part in the protest, said: "I don’t object to nuclear power but I do object to 200 metre high cooling towers. They will completely ruin the area."

John Grey, a Shepperdine farmer, said: "The thing that I don’t want to see is Shepperdine completely destroyed, which is going to happen if they build this station."

John Wilson, who lives near to the existing Oldbury Power Station, said: "We’ve already had 40 years of it we don’t want any more." During the protest anti-nuclear slogans and images of how the Severn Vale might look with another nuclear power station were projected onto the side of Thornbury Town Hall and Cossham Hall.