Lincolnshire County Council leader Sean Matthews defends stance on nuclear waste site amid criticism from Tories
The new Reform UK leader of Lincolnshire County Council has hit back at accusations of failing to deliver on his election promises regarding a nuclear waste site.
The Lincolnshire Conservative group has highlighted that Coun Sean Matthews, recently elected as council leader, has yet to pull out of talks with government agency Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) about a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF)—despite saying he would cancel Lincolnshire’s involvement in the project on day one if elected.
NWS, formerly known as Radioactive Waste Management Limited, outlined three potential sites for its Geological Disposal Facility in January, including East Lindsey, and communities in Mid Copeland and South Copeland in Cumbria.
East Lindsey District Council withdrew from talks with NWS after the proposed location changed from the former gas terminal in Theddlethorpe to open countryside on land between the villages of Gayton le Marsh and Great Carlton.
The former Conservative administration of Lincolnshire County Council announced its intention to withdraw from talks in March, effectively cancelling the company’s consideration of the Lincolnshire coast for the facility. However, this had yet to be formalised before the local elections in May, when the administration switched to Reform UK.
During a demonstration outside East Lindsey District Council offices in early March, dozens of protesters called on Lincolnshire County Council to withdraw from the talks. Councillor Matthews attended with four of his Reform UK colleagues.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "On day one if elected as the leader of the Reform council, we will withdraw from the agreement."
Coun Richard Davies, leader of the Conservative opposition group on the county council, said: “This is a clear U-turn from Sean Matthews and Reform UK.
“Local people were told the project would be scrapped on day one. Instead, the new Reform administration is delaying, consulting, and refusing to give communities the certainty they deserve.”
He added: “We call on Sean Matthews to explain why he has not kept his word to Lincolnshire residents. Reform UK cannot have it both ways—either they stand by their promises or admit they misled the public to win votes.”
Responding to the comments from his Tory counterpart, Coun Matthews said: "As Richard is well aware, there is a democratic process that needs to be followed to officially review the council's membership of the Community Partnership. And he knows that if we don't follow that process, we could open ourselves up to challenge, causing further uncertainty for local residents.
"We were clear in the campaign about our intentions, and on my first day as leader of the Reform group, I started that process—even enacting the council's urgency protocol to allow us to have these important discussions as quickly as possible.
"It took me less than a day to start a process that the previous Conservative administration couldn't complete in the several years they were in power. In fact, the mere fact they entertained the plans to bury nuclear waste under Lincolnshire in the first place is why this community has had to live with uncertainty for so many years.
"As far as I am concerned, in just one week a decision will have been made and then residents can judge for themselves whether their Reform councillors stick to their word."
Councillors on Lincolnshire County Council’s Overview & Scrutiny Management Board will review the council's participation in the Community Partnership at a meeting on Thursday, May 29. A final decision on the council's future involvement is expected to be taken by the Executive on Tuesday, June 3.
