PEOPLE in Bridgwater are being urged to show they care as much about the potential impacts of Hinkley Point C as those in surrounding villages.

Sedgemoor District Council says public consultation events in Bridgwater on EDF Energy's plans for a third nuclear reactor have not been as well attended as those in the villages, and there have been relatively few responses from residents in the town.

The authority is now putting up Hinkley C information boards in Bridgwater's Angel Place Shopping Centre and will be taking comments at certain times (see below).

Claire Pearce, the council's planning manager for major projects, said the potential knock-on effects of the proposed power plant, including extra traffic and an influx of workers, would affect Bridgwater as much as the villages.

She said: “It is our role to look after the interests of all the people in the district and enable them to express their opinions on such a massive project so if they don't come to us we thought we would go where they are; on a Friday and Saturday it is usually the town centre.”

She added: “The comments we get from the public in the run up to EDF's submission (of a planning application for Hinkley Point C to the Infrastructure Planning Commission) will inform our Local Impact Report that we will be expected to deliver to the IPC shortly afterwards.”

HINKLEY Point C information boards will be on display in Angel Place for several weeks and people will be able to comment between 10am and 4pm on May 13, 10am and 2pm on May 14, 10am and 4pm on May 20, and 10am and 2pm on May 21.