Farmers and locals in a UK village say their “lives will be destroyed” by “crazy” plans to flood 1,500 acres — to compensate for fish lost to a nuclear power plant.
EDF Energy wants to create a saltmarsh — on land currently used for agriculture and businesses like camping — to mitigate the eco impact of Hinkley Point C.
The nuclear power plant is currently being built and will ingest 44 tons of fish a year.
EDF wants to compensate the death of the fish by creating the saltmarsh habitat at one of four sites along the River Severn in Somerset.
Plans are currently focused on Kingston Seymour, between Clevedon and Weston-super-Mare, where landowners have received letters and documents from EDF.
Locals say the “threatenin”‘ letters include the company’s “ever-changing” plans, requests to survey and take photos of their land and also warns of “compulsory purchase.”
But campaigners argue “to destroy one habitat by killing another” is a “devastating” proposal which will affect existing biodiversity, agricultural land, businesses and people’s livelihoods.
EDF argue they are “obliged to make environmental improvements” and creating the saltmarsh will increase and protect biodiversity, as well as help fish by providing breeding grounds and provide food and shelter for birds and animals.
But locals, including many farmers, are in “extreme distress” and have launched a ‘’David and Goliath’’ battle.
Sophie Cole, 28, is a third-generation young farmer in Kingston Seymour and all her land and property is directly impacted by this proposal.
Her cottage is in the flooding zone.
She said: “I grew up here, it’s my home and they threaten me with ‘compulsory purchase’ of my land if I don’t give them permission to conduct their work?
“There is just no logic to these plans, and everyone thinks so.”
Sophie, who has been working from the age of 11, said: “I didn’t go to university, I never travelled — I was always thinking about the future. Now I’m thinking why!
“If I lose this, it’s going to take away my whole identity and what I’ve worked so hard for.”
Sophie lives on the farm with her 30 sheep and has future plans to power her farm off-grid by installing solar panels, batteries and a wind turbine, as well as plant more trees and a wildflower meadow.
She describes the unique wildlife that live on the land, from great-crested newts to badgers, deer, birds, bats and insects — and how everything is “very balanced” with farmers producing food whilst living alongside the biodiverse wildlife -—which will be ”ruined” by EDF’s proposed plans.
She added: “It just feels so personal and I have so many plans for this place.
I worry about people’s mental health — I really do.”
Claire Stuckey is from a family who have lived in Kingston Seymour for generations and is one of those leading the action group alongside her partner Tania Kinane.
It currently has over 2,000 members in the “stop EDF proposal to flood part of Kingston Seymour for salt marsh” and 3,961 signatures on the petition against EDFs proposals.
Tania said: “This has come as a big shock because it was only back in 2011 and 2012 we saw off the Environment Agency’s previous attempt to create a salt marsh habitat here.”
Tania explained: “We are fighting as hard as we can — for everyone in the village, there is a great community here.
”But you are also fighting for people who are very directly impacted by this, which is devastating because it is taking away their future and everything that is important to them.”
Tania argues the impact of the proposal is “huge and widespread” on people of all ages.
“It doesn’t matter what age you are — whether you’re near retirement, a young farmer, a young business owner the impacts are the same,” she said.
Tania says raising awareness about the plans is essential, particularly in Clevedon and the surrounding areas, because of the increased flood risks that will arise from bringing the sea wall closer inland.
She said: “There are about 45,000 people who live in Clevedon, and in this area — and Yatton — all of these people are below sea level, so any changes to the sea wall closer will have a major impact on them.”
The Seven Estuary has the second-highest tidal range in the world — rising up to 49 feet.
Tania says EDF’s plan is “short-sighted” — as she says ‘the high tides say otherwise and there could be a detrimental event as a result.
“We have scientific reports that say you cannot create a salt marsh here because if you do it will erode away and then it will silt up, so even if you created it: it will be short term.”
Dan Kostyla, 34, a fourth generation farmer who operates a large dairy and beef farm business, added: “I can’t see the proposal working here.
“Even if a saltmarsh is created, which is unlikely because of how muddy it is — it will just be washed away at high-tide: it is so powerful.
“So this saltmarsh will take tens of years to be created — for it just to be washed away!”
Dan lives on the farm with his wife, Kelly, 34 and two young children — who are the fifth generation – and the family run the business (130 acres of land and rent out 70 acres) by themselves.
Dan has said if the plans go ahead, there will be “no way” the family would recover from the damage.
He explained: “There are not many true family farms left! We wouldn’t be able to recover from this.
“They have presented us with aggressive letters and 60 pages of documents and ever-changing maps: there is no consistency.
“We cannot believe what they are trying to do — this is not the right way to fix their problem, it’s crazy!”
Peter, 71, and Karen Stuckey, 68, describe themselves on the ‘front line’ and at the ‘epicenter’ of the salt marsh plans.
Pete, a former farmer and Karen, now semi-retired, own nine-and-a-half acres of land in which they operate a thriving commercial business — providing employment, housing and services to local people.
Karen said: “This proposal will destroy our home, business and livelihood and is causing us a great deal of worry and anxiety — it is completely distressing.
“The way EDF has written to us demanding immediate access — without any prior notice – and then including our ‘life’ within their boundary goes beyond belief. We feel we are being harassed.
“This will destroy everything we have built up over the last 50 years!
“One of our tenants who lives in Bristol, who works out of a unit here, said to Pete last week ‘I’ve seen on the news about the salt marsh project — is my unit going to be flooded?’
“What are we supposed to tell him?”
The couple have keys to access the sea wall which is right on their land — which has only broken once back in 1981.
Pete, who was born in the village, said: “Even then the wall protected the village and Clevedon was fine.”
The pair say they and the community have denied EDF access to their land to carry out surveys, and have sent people away who have been taking photos on their property.
Katherin, 48 and David Kirk, 45, rebuilt Dowlais Farm seven years ago into a Grade II listed family home, as well as a thriving eco-friendly campsite and two holiday cottages.
The mother-of-three said: “This plan would be devastating.
“We have lived and breathed our home and have invested everything we have both financially and physically into this business and built it up from scratch.
“Their new sea wall proposal goes around the boundaries of my peaceful land — we would have no one wanting to stay here.
“It would also destroy wildlife habitats for otters, bats, badgers, foxes, deer as well as birds such as owls, kestrels and buzzards who all nest in the trees here.”
David added: “They were talking of compulsory surveys within 10-15 days. It feels like an attack. I’m devastated at the prospect of it, it’s horrendous.”
Tania added EDF should be looking at other options, one being reclaiming some of the existing estuary and mud-flats, which was done in Slimbridge, and creating a salt marsh within the estuary that is in front of the sea wall.
The energy company says it “has no defined plans for the total area, final location or indeed the method by which it would be created.”
Andrew Cockcroft, Head of Stakeholder Relations at Hinkley Point C, said: “We have listened carefully to concerns and suggestions made during our consultation and are now exploring changes to our proposals.
“Hinkley Point C is one of Britain’s biggest acts in the fight against climate change and its operation will provide significant benefits for the environment.
“The development of saltmarsh habitat will boost this further — helping support fish populations and minimize the small environmental impact of operating the new power station.”
