Section:GDN 1N PaGe:25 Edition Date:190815 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 14/8/2019 16:53 cYanmaGentaYellowb
Thursday 15 Aug ust 2019 The Guardian •
National^25
Hinkley Point CResidents count the cost of living
on roads to nuclear building site
Lisa O’Carroll
Air and noise pollution, traffi c chaos
and rising rents are blighting the Som-
erset town that has found itself the
gateway for the marathon construc-
tion of the new Hinkley Point C (HPC)
nuclear power station, locals say.
Limits for air pollution have been
exceeded on main roads many times
this year, while Highways England data
shows truck numbers have increased
by more than 20% since building work
started in 2016, with two every minute
on some roads.
Not all are delivering to Hinkley
but, with no bypass for the nuclear
site, locals say it has made the town
unnavigable at times. Buses transport-
ing 4,000 construction workers to the
site add to the traffi c – and the infl ux of
workers is pushing up rents.
Rat runs are in gridlock and a town
that is home to nearly 40,000 people
is experiencing London-level traffi c
on some roads.
Friends of the Earth, which looked
at the air quality data for 2018 and
2019 provided by the local Sedgemoor
district council, said it was concerned
about the high incidences of fuel
particle matter on some roads.
Data shows that it has exceeded
safe limits on Quantock Road 16 times
already this year, while on nearby
Bristol Road the limits were exceeded
15 times.
The latest data shows the number
of HGVs has increased from 470 a day
in 2014 to 900 in 2018 on Quantock
Road, the principal artery out of the
town to Hinkley. Nearby Horsey Level
registered almost 1,500 HGVs while on
Taunton Road, the main road from the
M5 , residents have to endure 1,050 a
day, making it diffi cult to cross the road
and forcing many cyclists on to paths
for their own safety. HPC says the num-
ber of HGVs travelling to and from the
site is capped at 750 a day.for particle pollution by the World
Health Organi zation. These aren’t just
arbitrary guides – they’re set to pro-
tect our health. Particle pollution is the
most dangerous, fi nding its way deep
into our lungs and even bloodstream.
“Air pollution particularly aff ects
the most vulnerable in society, includ-
ing children and the elderly. It’s also an
issue hitting poorer communities, who
tend to live near main roads where air
pollution is worst, hardest,” she added.
EDF Energy, which is building HPC,
denies it is to blame. “Our cameras
at two of the busiest junctions in
Bridgwater show that in peak-hour
morning traffi c, HGVs delivering to
the construction site account for less
than 10% of the total HGVs on those
roads,” said a spokesman, Gordon Bell.
Hinkley also says any HGV deliv-
ering must comply with European
standards on emissions. “In terms of
pure percentage our vehicles are a low
proportion. We provided money for
Sedgemoor to put in air quality plans.
I don’t think we are the straw that
breaks the camel’s back,” said HPC’s
lead planner, Andrew Goodchild.
This is little solace to residents who
complain of noise, nuisance and con-
gestion. The convoy of buses taking
thousands of workers to and from the
site each day is an added headache,
says Brian Smedley, the leader of the
Labour council in Bridgwater.
HPC says it agreed to fund double-
glazed windows on some of the busiest
roads in Bridgwater as a goodwill
gesture, not an admission of respon-
sibility for the noise of HGVs.
“EDF have paid to replace all my
windows, and it’s made no diff er-
ence. On a summer’s night, I’m not
able to sleep with the windows open
at all,” said Balcombe. “I am woken up
every morning at 5am from the noise
of lorries .”
HPC points out that the HGV move-
ments will ease in the autumn when
it switches supplies to the sea, and
the permission for an extra 250 HGVs
a day expires. For Bridgwater locals,
a bypass would have been the answer
and helped relieve the town of its
perennial traffi c problem.
The former Labour councillor Mick
Lerry, who was involved in the fi ght for
a bypass, said the attempt was stymied
because it was never part of the devel-
opment consent order submitted by
EDF and could not be considered.
A spokesman for the Department
for Business, Energy and Industrial
Strategy said: “Hinkley Point C is a key
part of meeting our target of net-zero
emissions by 2050, and will provide
an enormous boost to the local and
national economy. Traffi c, air quality
and noise were all considered during
the application process. We were satis-
fi ed the developer agreed appropriate
proposals to limit HGV traffi c.”
Sedgemoor district council (SDC)
said it had made representations over
the impact of HGVs but the decision to
give the go-ahead to Hinkley was out
of its hands. “SDC takes the health of
its residents extremely seriously and
made a strong case through the Hin-
kley Point C local impact report on the
wider impacts of the project ,” it said.
Residents on Taunton Road are
living with daily numbers of vehicles
close to some of the capital’s busiest
roads. Transport for London fi gures
show Nine Elms in Vauxhall , a busy
junction where pollution levels have
exceeded safe levels , endured 1,134
HGVs a day.▲ The construction of Hinkley Point
C has caused a huge increase in the
number of HGVs driven near the site
PHOTOGRAPHS: SAM FROST/THE GUARDIAN▲ A lorry passing through Bridgwater, Somerset. Neal Balcombe, above, in his
garden in Quantock Road says he is woken at 5am daily by the road noiseFor Neal Balcombe, who bought a
house off Quantock Road, the stress
is almost unbearable. “When I fi rst
looked at my house I fell in love with
it,” he said. “It is detached, it has a
lovely big garden, trees behind it.
“There was a road behind it, but it
was tolerable. Now, if you sat in my
garden at 4pm on a sunny afternoon
and tried to have a conversation you
wouldn’t be able to hear each other .”
Jenny Bates, air pollution cam-
paigner at Friends of the Earth said:
“Levels of air pollution in the area
are unhealthy and over standards set4,000
The number of workers taken daily
by bus to the Hinkley Point C site1,500
The number of trucks passing
through Horsey Level every day20%
The increase in HGV traffi c since
building work began in 2016In numbers
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