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Following a first letter concerning Millom and Haverigg, Nuclear Free Local Authorities Chair, Councillor Lawrence O’Neill, has written again to the Chair of the South Copeland GDF Community Partnership and the Nuclear Waste Services Siting and Communities Director asking them to exclude beauty and heritage sites in Drigg from consideration as Areas of Focus.
Drigg is part of the South Copeland Search Area being investigated as a location for a Geological Disposal Facility, which would be the final repository for Britain’s high level radioactive waste currently stored and managed at Sellafield. Low-level radioactive waste is already stored at an existing repository located at Drigg.
Nuclear Waste Services has recently announced that it intends to identify Areas of Focus in South Copeland for more intensive studies; including one which might be selected as the location for a surface facility, approximately 1 km sq, which would receive the nuclear waste shipments before these are taken below ground and out along tunnels under the seabed.
NWS has recently published guidance about how Areas of Focus will be selected.[i] [ii] This recognises that there will be ‘land-use constraints’ excluding certain locations within a Search Area from consideration. ‘These include: – community considerations e.g. avoiding built-up (urban) areas and designated settlement boundaries which could be impacted by noise etc.; and – protected areas and environmental constraints, for example National Parks, National Landscapes, ecologically sensitive/protected areas, areas with higher levels of flood risk, known heritage sites.’
In his letter of the South Copeland GDF Community Partnership Cllr Ged McGrath and NWS Director Simon Hughes, Cllr O’Neill lists the Hallsenna Moor National Nature Reserve, the Drigg Coast and Drigg Holme Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and eight local Grade II listed buildings as meriting exclusion.
All parts of South Copeland which are within the Lake District National Park are already excluded from any GDF development.
Ends://..For more information please contact the NFLA Secretary Richard Outram by email to richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
Notes to Editors
Letter sent to:
Cllr Ged McGrath, Chair, South Copeland GDF Community Partnership
and Simon Hughes, NWS GDF Siting and Communities Director
Thursday 12 December 2024.
Dear Councillor McGrath and Mr Hughes,
Areas of Focus – Drigg, South Copeland GDF Search Area
I am writing to you again as Chair on behalf of the UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities, but this time in relation to the identification of Areas of Focus in Drigg.
For the record, I will start by reiterating some of the points I made in my first letter about the situation in Millom and Haverigg, as they are equally pertinent to this.
Nuclear Waste Services has recently announced its next step in investigating the suitability of each of the three Search Areas for potentially locating the Geological Disposal Facility: by conducting ‘further investigative and technical studies’ in identified Areas of Focus in three categories: Sub-surface, Surface, and Accessway.
My understanding is that the Areas of Focus will take account of ‘land-use constraints’, i.e. exclude ‘built-up areas’, ‘settlements’, and ‘protected areas’, such as ’National Parks, National Landscapes, ecological sensitive areas, protected areas with known flood risks and known heritage sites’.
The South Copeland GDF Search Area is already significantly constrained by the proper exclusion of the Lake District National Park, but given that it likely that one or more Areas of Focus could become the potential location of the surface site or the accessway, the NFLAs are anxious to ensure that local nature reserves, local beaches, and local heritage sites across the Search Area are protected from GDF development in the future.
In my first letter, I looked at these sites in Millom and Haverigg; here I shall focus on sites in Drigg with a request that these also be excluded from consideration as Areas of Focus:
Hallsenna Moor National Nature Reserve (NNR):
The environment and wildlife of a National Nature Reserve is protected against harm and damaging operations and intrusive development, in and around them, under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
1.5 k from Drigg village can be found the Hallsenna Moor NNR.
According to the Woodlands Trust[iii]:
‘Hallsenna Moor NNR is one of the few remaining lowland heath and peatland habitats in Cumbria. The moor is notable for the fact that it has never been cut for peat and supports a diverse collection of plant communities including those typical of woodlands, valley peatland, wet and dry heathland and fen. Watch for buzzard hunting over the moor, curlew hiding amongst the peatland flora and warblers flitting amongst the scrub and tree cover on the reserve edges’.
The National Archives include a historic leaflet published by Natural England, which provides a lengthier description:[iv]
‘A colourful mosaic of lowland heath and peaty fens make up this national nature reserve with its varied flora and fauna. The moor is notable for the fact that it has never been cut for peat and supports a diverse collection of plant communities including those typical of woodlands, valley peatland, wet and dry heathland and fen. The bog that has developed here is in places floating on the ground water body, forming a quaking bog or ‘schwingmoor’ that readily bounces underfoot! These habitats are rare in the UK, and this is one of the few remaining sites in the county, and the largest in West Cumbria.’
The full leaflet is reproduced below as Appendix One.
Natural England supports professional development in nature conservation by providing opportunities for volunteering and academic studies.
Drigg Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI):
The Drigg Coast is an SSSI and thus protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
The SSSI entry has been retrieved and can be found below as Appendix Two.
According to Living Seas North-West[v]:
‘Drigg is a lovely example of a small, bar-built estuary. It is fed by three rivers: the Irt, Mite and Esk. The beach is vast and remote, with huge sand dunes to climb and an old look out post at the top.
Drigg has the largest sand dune system in Cumbria, supporting species such as sea holly, sea bindweed and blue fleabane. The dunes and the estuary of Eskmeals and Ravenglass also support one of the largest seabird breeding colonies in the northwest.
The dunes span a range of hydrological conditions from very wet to relatively dry. Some are dominated by heather and bell heather (dune heath), some present as acidic dune grassland with a prominent lichen component, and some are areas where sand sedge grows in carpets of moss. The dune heath is a nationally rare habitat which becomes a riot of colour in July and August when the heather flowers.
The range of habitats makes the area particularly important for its plant and bird life. It is also home to the rare and protected natterjack toad, supporting one of England’s largest breeding colonies, as well as great crested newts and adders.’
Cumbria Wildlife Trust adds this additional comment[vi]:
‘Part of the 11 km designated Drigg coastline, Drigg dunes are the most extensive dune systems in Cumbria. Home to the rare northern dune tiger beetle, the dunes here cover almost 400 hectares and provide an important habitat for reptiles and breeding birds. From the dunes you can walk for miles northwards on the superb sands up to St Bees head’.
BBC Countryfile made some interesting commentary on the adverse visual impact on nuclear operations on the natural environment when making this exhortation to walkers to visit Drigg beach[vii]:
‘[Drigg] is small and unremarkable save in one rather unfortunate way – it houses the UK’s national low level radioactive waste repository. Officially there is very little actual radioactive waste at the site, but it’s curious to find such a place adjacent to the wild and beautiful wildlife refuge of Drigg beach and dunes…
This is the largest sand dune system in Cumbria supporting species such as sea holly, sea bindweed and blue fleabane. The dunes and the estuary of Eskmeals and Ravenglass also support one of the largest seabird breeding colonies in the northwest.’
Drigg Holme SSSI:
Drigg Holme is an SSSI and thus protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
The SSSI entry has been retrieved and can be found below as Appendix Three. From this I will just reprint an extract:
‘Drigg Holme is located on the flood plain of the River Irt approximately 1 km east of Drigg and 4 km south of Gosforth.
Drigg Holme comprises a suite of neutral and acidic grasslands with a rich and varied hay meadow flora. In West Cumbria the site is one of only two known flood meadow systems under a ‘traditional’ management regime, where the grasslands are in shared ownership.
In terms of species diversity, the grasslands are the second richest series known in West Cumbria with records for 150 different flowering plants’.
Listed buildings:
In the parish area of Drigg and Carleton, the National Heritage List records eight listed buildings designated as Grade II, which is applied to ‘buildings of national importance and special interest’; All the listed buildings are houses or farmhouses and associated structures.
This list can be found below as Appendix Four.
Thank you for considering these requests. Your comments in response via our NFLA Secretary Richard Outram richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk would be most welcome.
Yours sincerely,
Councillor Lawrence O’Neill, Chair, For the UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities
[i] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/finding-a-suitable-site-for-a-geological-disposal-facility/identifying-areas-of-focus-our-methodology
[ii] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6751baec19e0c816d18d1e1c/NWS_AOF_Methodology_Brochure.pdf
[iii] https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/woods/hallsenna-moor/
[iv] https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20140711133551/http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/Images/hallsenna-info
[v] https://www.livingseasnw.org.uk/explore/places-visit/top-beaches-wildlife/drigg
[vi] https://www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/explore/great-places-see-sand-dunes-cumbria
[vii] https://www.countryfile.com/go-outdoors/walks/drigg-dunes-cumbria
