Energy firm EDF’s “shambolic” approach to communities, as it tries to wriggle out of installing a key eco-saving measure at its new nuclear power plant, threatens to create the perfect conditions for an ecological disaster in the Severn Estuary, warns Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust.
When the energy giant was given planning permission for the new nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point C in Somerset, it was required to install a system to keep fish away from the inlet of the cooling system as it sucks in an Olympic-sized swimming pool of water every 12 seconds.
Known as an acoustic fish deterrent (AFD), a network of underwater speakers emit high frequency pulses to keep fish away from the inlet, preventing millions of fish from being killed in the cooling pipes each year.
Now EDF wants to get rid of the AFD, and is proposing an alternative suite of ecological compensation measures, including the restoration of wildlife-rich “saltmarsh” brackish at four different locations along the Severn Estuary, two of which are at sites in Gloucestershire. The location of the other ecological measures are currently unidentified.
However, in a series of shambolic engagement events with local communities, EDF has failed to make a clear case for the removal of the AFD or provide evidence for why the proposals would adequately compensate for the types of fish that will be killed.
Alongside this, through a ham-fisted approach to landowners that threatened compulsory purchase to acquire the land to enable habitat restoration, the company has effectively destroyed community support for these alternative measures.
When the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, considers EDF’s updated plans in the New Year, there is a major risk that, as the government presses ahead with plans to achieve Net Zero, important ecological measures will be either scrapped or be too inadequate to make a difference.
The impact could be a disaster for fish populations in the Estuary, with a 2021 report to the Welsh Government suggesting the number of fish killed as a result of the removal of the system could be as high as 182 million fish per year; orders of magnitude higher than EDF’s own calculations.
“EDF’s shambolic approach to working with communities is creating a perfect storm for Ed Miliband to handle in the New Year”, says Andrew McLaughlin, Chief Executive of Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust.
“There are many positive ways that EDF could be working with the consent of local communities, and many existing habitat restoration projects that EDF could support to provide some compensation for the impact of the reactor.
“But EDF’s current restoration proposals are late in the day, lack the detail that would give people assurance, and the threat of compulsory purchase orders has destroyed local goodwill.
“My fear is that the ecological mitigations get thrown in the ‘too hard box’ and scrapped, and this could spell disaster for important fish populations in the Severn Estuary.”
EDF’s reasons for removing the AFD are challenges with installation, maintenance, and diver safety in the Bristol Channel.
However, this claim was refuted by a group of academics and suppliers of AFD systems who continue to fundamentally disagree with EDF’s assertions on the topic.
“EDF should not be allowed to mark their own homework or dictate their own future on this,” continues McLaughlin.
“The planning consent order for the nuclear power plant says that there should be an AFD, so that is what EDF should be held to deliver.
“It is important that there is transparent, detailed and independent scrutiny of the facts of this matter, and that community voices are properly heard.
“As the country rightly pursues a Net Zero approach, it is of vital importance that we don’t simply trade off the climate emergency against an ecological emergency.
“Doing so would leave us poorer as a nation, and we need joined-up thinking to ensure that decisions are truly sustainable for the future.”
What is GWT’s position on restoring saltmarsh and inter-tidal habitats?
GWT’s concerns are focused primarily on the approach being taken by EDF to once again try and remove the AFD from the planning consent, and the way they are treating land managers and communities.
“In the current climate and ecological emergencies, we know we are going to need to restore nature at scale in order to protect both wildlife and people from the most serious consequences,” says Emma Hutchins, Director for Nature’s Recovery at Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust.
“Saltmarsh and inter-tidal habitats have a significant role to play in both these emergencies and are being lost around the country, as well as in the Severn Estuary. Saltmarsh and inter-tidal habitats are important for wildlife, sequester large amounts of carbon, and can also provide flood relief and improve water quality too.
“There are a number of sites throughout the Estuary where evidence shows that important wildlife habitats, including saltmarsh and inter-tidal habitats, are ecologically possible and would in many cases be desirable to restore, including areas on the EDF list.
“Alongside this, climate change means that our coastal and estuary systems are going to change significantly in the coming years, and this will have significant impacts on people, wildlife and habitats too.
“The considerable modification of the countryside by people for hundreds of years, means that what would have been a natural transition and shift between habitat types, with wetland habitats slowly moving inland as sea level rises, will now require intervention to allow more space for water.
“Through climate change we will see some habitats replaced naturally by others, some freshwater habitats will become saline ones, and some terrestrial habitats will in some locations become freshwater ones.
“The need to manage the change in coastal and estuary areas is becoming increasingly important, and it’s important to be thinking ahead about how climate change will impact existing habitats and wildlife in the years to come in order that nature has the chance to recover.
“This means thinking beyond areas impacted by habitat change and working with landowners nearby to ensure there is space for nature to move and adapt, for example through nature-friendly farming and other improvements.
“It is also vitally important to understand the impacts of saltmarsh and inter-tidal habitats on hydrological flows in river systems, including how this will be affected by sea level rise and increased storm events across the catchment.”
While changes may be ecologically viable on the sites proposed by EDF, GWT recognises that there may be social, economic and hydrological reasons why it may not be desirable to proceed with them, as well as alternatives for the compensation EDF needs to achieve.
The importance of local support and consent highlights the need for this kind of process to be managed by responsible agents who can understand the wider picture, listen to local knowledge and act in genuine partnership with communities and landowners.
GWT is demonstrating this approach with the Eelscapes project, a partnership project between the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, the Environment Agency and Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, showing that it is possible to build a strong coalition of farmers and landowners.
In the case of the Eelscapes project, 26 landowners are keen to deliver landscape-scale change, working collaboratively for the benefit of nature and the threatened European eel that was once common in the Estuary.