Cumbria saved once again from deep nuclear dump!

At a momentous County Council meeting of the Cabinet at the Courts, Carlisle, on Jan 30th, Cumbria decided to withdraw from the next stage of the Managing Radioactive Waste Safely process by a vote of 7 to 3. Government had not given sufficiently binding guarantees over the Right to Withdraw at any time, and was even prepared to alter the process as it went along, so that no-one could have any confidence they knew what they were signing up for. Questions from the public, including petitions, took an hour, as there were 40 tabled.

The motion was:

Not to participate in stage 4 thereby excluding the Allerdale and
Copeland areas of Cumbria from further consideration in the MRWS
process and to encourage the Government to make the necessary
investment to improve surface storage facilities at Sellafield, (taking
account of the findings of the National Audit Office report HC 630 dated 7
November 2012).

Council leader Eddie Martin got a standing ovation for his speech, the public gallery erupted with joy, and protestors outside danced and sang in the cold where they'd been waiting for 4 hours.

Friends of the Earth congratulates the Council and everyone who has campaigned to get the county out of this flawed process.

It would be good to think that this is the end of the matter. Certainly we thought so in 1997 when John Gummer refused the appeal by Nirex to site a Rock Laboratory in Gosforth, West Cumbria. The expert witness of Friends of the Earth from Dr Rachel Western and Dr Pad Green, supported by geologist Prof David Smythe, was critical in the Public Inquiry that took place in Cleator Moor in 1995 - 6.

We will continue to be vigilant over the dump. But more to the point we will also, this spring, be offering our own vision of how to achieve a sustainable future for Cumbria. Watch this space!