Anti-nuclear-waste campaigners offer mutual support

Radioactive waste would be buried in vaults and tunnels deep underground

A Lincolnshire anti-nuclear-waste campaigning group has offered support to a similar group in East Yorkshire.

Guardians of the East Coast (GOTEC) are campaigning against nuclear waste being buried underground at Theddlethorpe in Lincolnshire.

On 9 February they met the South Holderness Action Group, which opposes nuclear waste being stored in Yorkshire’s South Holderness.

GOTEC said it wants to help preserve both areas “for future generations”.

The former Theddlethorpe gas terminal was identified in 2021 by Nuclear Waste Services as a possible location for an underground nuclear waste disposal facility.

Earlier this year South Holderness was also identified as a potential area for nuclear waste disposal.

The two groups met on 9 February to discuss their opposition to nuclear-waste disposal

Ken Smith, chair of the Guardians of the East Coast (GOTEC) group, said: “Our campaign has never been about ‘not in my backyard’ self-interest but more about preserving what we have for future generations.

“That puts us in the same position as the people of South Holderness, so of course we wanted to help.”

Anne Handley, leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, told BBC Look North she decided to oppose plans for a nuclear waste disposal in East Yorkshire after “listening carefully to residents”.

Such a facility would store nuclear waste up to 3,280ft (1,000m) underground in South Holderness or Theddlethorpe and officials claim this would create thousands of jobs.

The proposed South Holderness site is one of three areas being considered, alongside Lincolnshire and/or Cumbria, which is the only proposed site on the west coast of England.

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