Criticism of Cutting Regulations (Fingleton) Plan

Environmental organisations have criticised the government’s Nuclear

Review, known as the Fingleton Report, for suggesting that environmental
protections are blocking development at Hinkley Point C. The Severn Estuary
Interests Group, a collaboration of organisations working to protect the
estuary, says EDF’s reported £700m spend on fish protection measures is not
due to regulations but to poor planning and design decisions. The group
points out that the government chose to build the power station on one of
the UK’s most protected ecological sites. The Severn Estuary is both a
Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area, supporting
migratory fish, internationally important bird species and diverse
invertebrate communities. Campaigners say the impact of the plant will be
immense, with cooling systems drawing in the equivalent of an Olympic-sized
swimming pool every 12 seconds and discharging heated water back into the
estuary. They argue that data used in the Fingleton Report is inaccurate,
relying on figures from the now-decommissioned Hinkley Point B rather than
the new design. Simon Hunter, CEO of Bristol Avon Rivers Trust, said:
“When developers fail to consult meaningfully, ignore local expertise,
and attempt to sidestep environmental safeguards, costs rise and nature
pays the price. Many countries would never have permitted a development of
this scale in such a sensitive location in the first place.” “The
situation at HPC is not an indictment of environmental protection, but of
poor planning, weak accountability, and a persistent willingness to blame
nature for the consequences of human decisions.” Georgia Dent, CEO of
Somerset Wildlife Trust, said: “The government seems to have adopted a
simple, reductive narrative that nature regulations are blocking
development, and this is simply wrong. To reduce destruction of protected
and vulnerable marine habitat to the concept of a ‘fish disco’ is
deliberately misleading and part of a propaganda drive from government.”
“Nature in the UK is currently in steep decline and the government has
legally binding targets for nature’s recovery, and is failing massively in
this at the moment. To reduce the hard-won protections that are allowing
small, vulnerable populations of species to cling on for dear life is
absolutely the wrong direction to take.”

Burnham-on-Sea.com 14th Dec 2025

https://www.burnham-on-sea.com/news/wildlife-groups-hit-back-at-nuclear-review-claims-over-hinkley-point-c/