District delays council tax setting amid concern over scrutiny of nuclear project

A district council has adjourned the annual setting of its council tax over concerns about the burden of its role in scrutinising a major infrastructure project.

Sedgemoor DC said it had “very real concerns” about its ability to continue to carry out the scrutiny work on EDF Energy’s application to the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) for a £10bn new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point.

“This scrutiny is fundamental to make sure that the interests of the residents who will bear the impacts of the development are fairly and properly represented,” the authority said, adding that it was also a part of a legal requirement under the formal consent procedure set out by the IPC.

EDF has submitted a development consent order for the project to the IPC. A local impact report is required as part of the Commission’s examination. The council said the process would take until the end of 2012 and require specialist legal and research support.

Sedgemoor has insisted that local council taxpayers’ money should not be used to carry out the scrutiny work, arguing that the project was of national benefit and importance and the power station was being built by a commercial, profit-making company.

The authority said very large sums of money were likely to be needed to carry out the work and that it was not willing to set its council tax without this amount being agreed upon.

Sedgemoor said the work had been funded to this point by EDF, but the company had not confirmed the amount for the next stage. The council is seeking a £2m contribution.

Negotiations between EDF and Sedgemoor, West Somerset and Somerset councils have been ongoing. Sedgemoor has adjourned the setting of its council tax until 24 February in the hope that these negotiations would resolve the matter.

Cllr Duncan McGinty, Leader of Sedgemoor, said: "It is entirely improper that we use extremely scarce public money to fund the development process relating to a privately owned commercial asset of a company which is expected to reveal profits of £3.8bn."

He added: "The IPC will be expecting to see properly researched evidence from the councils as to information contained in EDF's application and we are not prepared to pay for this from local tax.”

Cllr McGinty pointed out that this was a core business for EDF and that the company would be buying in the best legal and technical advice.

“We need to be able to properly challenge their claims and this does not come cheap given the resources they have put behind their own professional team,” he said.

EDF Energy’s Richard Mayson told the BBC: “Over the past two years we’ve handed out £13m to councils to perform their duties and negotiations are ongoing.”