Campaigners attend East Lindsey District Council meeting to call on Lincolnshire County Council to withdraw from Geological Disposal Facility process

Dozens of protesters have called on Lincolnshire County Council to withdraw from the process that could lead to the construction of a nuclear waste site in the county.

Campaigners from across the district gathered outside East Lindsey District Council's offices in Horncastle ahead of a full council meeting on Wednesday to support a motion from Coun Travis Hesketh (Independent) urging the leader to actively oppose the establishment of a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) - and calling on the county council to withdraw from the community partnership in the hopes of stopping the plans altogether.

Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) identified three 'areas of focus' for its facility in January. These include sites in Mid Copeland and South Copeland in Cumbria, as well as land between Gayton le Marsh and Great Carlton, near Louth.

East Lindsey District Council has pledged to leave the working group it joined with the organisation formerly known as Radioactive Waste Management in 2021, due to the new location being prime agricultural land and completely different from the former gas terminal site in Theddlethorpe, which it had been considering previously.

"I am the district councillor for Withern and Theddlethorpe, I represent the area where the nuclear dump was originally going to be placed, but now it's moved," Coun Hesketh told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"We're here today because East Lindsey has said they are going to pull out, which is a terrific thing, but they need to go further. They need to say we oppose this and we want Lincolnshire County Council to do the same.

"We've had five years since Lincolnshire County Council met with Radioactive Waste Management – this thing has been going on for so long they’ve changed the name of the company. We've had enough now. They have ruined two communities, house values have been decimated – nobody can sell their house in the Carlton or Gayton area, they're stuck. It's time to make a decision."

As councillors began arriving for the meeting, campaigners sang chants such as "We say, we say, no GDF, no GDF," to the beat of Queen's We Will Rock You and other lines such as "We are gentle, angry people and we're singing for our lives."

Nigel, 64, from Theddlethorpe, was just one of many campaigners and said he had been fighting the plans since 'day one'.

"Now the area of focus has shifted, I feel I need to support the people affected in that area as well. We're just trying to force the council's hand now."

Before heading into the meeting, East Lindsey District Council leader Craig Leyland (Conservative) spoke to the protesters and faced several intense questions.

"I fully understand the feeling and concerns from residents now the search area has been relocated to open countryside," he said.

"The process that we got involved with, we entered this in good faith as a council, believing that we should be part of something, to understand the nature of it when it was at the Theddlethorpe gas terminal site, which is obviously now redundant, and there was a certain logic to that which we could understand.

"The decision by NWS to relocate the search area to open countryside is a very different matter."

He explained that the council's executive will be discussing the proposal to withdraw from the process at a meeting on April 23, and that from his discussions with LCC, it is still its intention to test public opinion on the situation.

"There is a thought, and I think it's something to consider, that if the county council just pulls out without a vote, the government won't hear the opposition to this. Your vote needs to be heard and recorded in a way that is properly done through the council process, through a ballot to all residents in that search area."

Coun Leyland later warned that there would be 'no guarantee' that the process would end after all relevant bodies have pulled out of the process.

"This is where national politics come into play. We've seen the local issues of the pylons, onshore wind turbines, and solar farms being pushed onto communities by government policy.

"Unfortunately, government at the moment has the means, in terms of a majority in parliament, to do near enough what they want."

Presenting the motion to council, Coun Hesketh recounted a memory he had meeting a woman who was breaking down outside one of NWS' public engagement events at Grimoldby and Manby Village Hall.

"She had met with NWS and Martin Hill, only to realise her dream of selling her small business had been shattered. All I could say was that I would stand with her. She is not alone. Six more communities are now facing this devastation—Grimoldby, Manby, Great Carlton, Little Carlton, Reston, and Gayton le Marsh. All blighted. All forgotten by those who should be standing up for them."

Executive members attempted to forward an amendment to the motion, instead urging LCC to withdraw once local opinion is determined by a formal ballot of residents in the search area. However, after criticism from members from across the political spectrum insisting they were just delaying it, this failed.

Ultimately, the motion passed with 43 votes for, four abstentions, and no votes against.

Coun Martin Hill (Conservative), leader of LCC, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "We are part of the process because we can see the potential for big economic growth in that part of Lincolnshire. If it were to happen, it would actually ensure the sea defences were maintained by government. But, on the other hand of course, it is a new development - an intrusion in that sense."

He explained that a formal test of public support won't be done for another 10 years, after NWS has all the relevant planning permissions, but a test of public opinion on whether the county council stays in the process or not could be done by nearly next year.

"I fully understand that we are now talking about a different scenario in open countryside and obviously the impact on property values and the uncertainty it creates for those individuals living in the area, which is why I think, along with East Lindsey District Council, we think we should resolve this as soon as possible. The only issue to me is whether that is done by the public directly or whether the councils make the decision on their behalf."

Responding to the news, Simon Hughes, NWS Siting and Communities Director, said: "We remain fully committed to working with Lincolnshire County Council as the remaining relevant principal local authority in the Community Partnership as we continue the search for a suitable site for a GDF.

"We know that awareness and understanding about the GDF programme is still low and we were pleased to talk to lots of local people at our most recent events who were interested in learning more about a GDF and what it could mean for the local community.

"A GDF will only be built where there is a suitable site with a willing community, and we are looking forward to building on our engagement to ensure people have the information they need to make an informed decision."