AS you are aware, the deadline for comments on the siting of a brand new nuclear power station at Oldbury is next week and I must say I am surprised at the relative lack of debate over what is a very serious matter.

When you gave the matter coverage a few weeks ago, I was horrified to read about this. I had assumed that the views expressed by so many other local people in the consultation last year had been heard and that the old power station would finally be shut down and removed as was the majority of feeling at that time.

I was even more shocked to learn that so many people appear to support the idea and I really can not work it out.

Most people I have spoken to perceive this as a foregone conclusion and therefore a waste of time making their views known. Those that have tried to comment on the DECC website have found it almost impossible. The nomination documentation is lengthy and complex and comments are invited on very specific issues which most 'lay' people like myself will be unable to do. This makes a sham of the so-called public consultation. If they want expert comments why bother consulting the public?

I live on the edge of Thornbury and just outside the area which they have chosen to consult thus far. Until recently, I had therefore heard nothing more than rumours that foreign electricity companies were buying up land adjacent to the old power station at Oldbury but dismissed this as gossip given the outcome of the consultation last year.

Last year we were all asked to comment on the future of the old power station and the outcome of this was that the majority of people here wanted to see the old power station removed and the land restored to its natural state. They made it perfectly clear they did not want another power station here and certainly not a nuclear one.

I have not had any formal communication from anyone on this so my "awareness" has not been raised by the process Eon have told the DECC they have undertaken locally.

I did not know about the various meetings Eon arranged for the locals and yet I am within a few miles of the new site and my kitchen window looks out over the land they intend to build it on. If anything goes wrong at Oldbury, I will be just as affected by it as anyone in Thornbury and yet for some reason, Eon have not contacted me. Does this not make their consultation process a sham? How many others so close by know nothing about it all?

I am totally against the whole idea of a new nuclear power station at Oldbury for so many reasons. I have lived with the threat of Chernobyl on my doorstep on the understanding that it was closing down. I have looked forward to the day when that threat is gone for many years and am deeply distressed that it now looks like it is back for the rest of my lifetime.

I will not go on and on about the reasons why I don't want this here, because I am not a technical expert. I, like many, feel it will go ahead regardless of what I say or do.

The people of Oldbury are apparently in favour of the new plant. Dare I ask how many of them have an interest in this, given that Eon have bought large pieces of land so close by? What about the interests of those further afield who have not been consulted, I would suggest that even people in Bristol should be participating in the debate. Bristol is a huge city less than 30 miles from the site. They will all be wiped out if something goes wrong. Do they get a chance to have their say without having to complete a form?

These nuclear power stations are a terrorist target in the making and I for one really do not want this on my doorstep. I was hoping it was all about to go and now they are planning to replace it with a new power station fuelled by – please note – much more potent strength nuclear fuel than previously used at Oldbury.

I am well aware of the Government's need to bridge the 'energy gap' but renewable energy can fill this gap more quickly and cheaply if they set their minds to it. Government targets to reduce carbon emissions will never be achieved if they continue up the nuclear energy path. I am told this will only achieve a 4 per cent reduction in carbon emissions and their targets are 80 per cent by 2050! Oldbury is a perfect site for renewables so why waste the opportunity and build another nuclear holocaust?

Sarah Thompson

Thornbury