Suffolk: Liberal Democrats condemn Tory refusal to protect rights of local people

11.26.10am GMT Fri 8th Dec 2006

At today's Full Council meeting of Suffolk County Council, Councillors debated a Liberal Democrat motion which called for the county council to protect the rights of local people to question the need for and locality of nuclear power stations. This is the same right that our community enjoys with regard to any other large-scale development. This has been put under threat by the Governments recent consultation on New Nuclear Build, which proposes to take away these rights and aims to have key decisions made in Whitehall without public consultation.

Conservative councillors threw out the motion and introduced an amendment which would not protect these rights but would merely guarantee that the County Council debated the White paper.

Speaking after the meeting Councillor Andrew Cann, who proposed the motion said, "Whilst I am pleased that the council agreed to discuss the energy white paper when it is published, one of the proposals in my motion, I am saddened that the conservatives refused to protect the rights of local people to have their say. The reason given that they would respond to the white paper once published has put off the important discussion of guaranteeing our local peoples rights. I can see no reason why conservative county councillors were unable to pledge to defend those rights today."