COMMUNITY CONVERSATION FOR THE PROPOSED GEOLOGICAL DISPOSAL FACILITY FOR RADIOACTIVE WASTE

Millom Without Parish Council are seeking to hear residents’ views about the proposals to include areas within the parish and neighbouring parishes for further study in connection with building a geological disposal facility (GDF) for high and intermediate level radioactive waste. In usual times this could be done by a series of public meetings, however, due to current restrictions on gatherings, we are organising an online public discussion. While we know that this is far from ideal, at the moment it is the only option we have to open this debate up for a public conversation.

For anyone wishing to join-in online we will take registration via the email address:

oandacontact@gmail.com

The first of these meetings will be held on Monday 22nd March at 7pm

The Parish council feel that this issue is a very important one for the future of our area and that it is vital to understand the views of the people of our community. We, the residents, will be responsible for making a decision which will impact on the area for ever, for every generation to come.

So far, the Parish Council has been present at a number of events where the process for the advancement of the GDF project has been set out. This includes several stages of development each of which has an approximate timescale and leads to further, more advanced investigations.

The agency in charge of finding a site for the GDF in our area is called the Copeland Working Group (CWG). In any study area, unless both the appropriate geological conditions are present AND the hosting community accept that investigation/construction of the facility should go ahead, the location will be abandoned and no further works will take place. The community may withdraw its support at any time during the investigation phase; CWG have been very clear that this is a foundation stone of the project. Communities who accept on-going investigations will be represented by a Community Partnership who will receive a sum of money to use in community development projects within the study area; the grant money increases as the study area advances through the stages of investigation. There may be more than one study area.

Millom Without Parish Council hold a neutral position at this stage in the discussions and are undertaking an information gathering exercise. It is right that this includes gathering information from residents. This information will be used to help steer the council in these early days of contact with CWG. The Parish Council does not have a seat in the CWG but does have access to representatives who are in the group and through whom we can interact directly with the CWG’s activities. The CWG are currently formulating their own plans to engage directly with communities but MWPC feel that as we are now several months down the line from the initial declaration to include Ghyll Scaur Quarry and the land thereabouts as a specific study area, it is time to open up this conversation among ourselves. We would urge everyone to think about this matter and either join in the online discussion or if you prefer, write a letter or send an email with your views.

The Parish Council website https://millomwithoutparishcouncil.com/?post_type=gdf contains a number of articles about the project with some external links to related documents. The CWG website https://copeland.workinginpartnership.org.uk contains a more project information.

The more people understand and discuss the GDF, the better we can represent our community. For this reason the meeting is not a presentation by the council it’s a chance to listen to your views.

THANK YOU