Orders of the Day — Electricity Generation and Transmission (Inquiries)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 2:13 am on 9 March 1988.

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Photo of David Heathcoat-Amory David Heathcoat-Amory , Wells 2:13, 9 March 1988

Nothing in the rules prevents objectors from stating their case. They are required, for instance, to give written notice of the objections that they choose to raise. My own view is that the basic economic and safety case for the PWRs was established at Sizewell; but that is only my opinion, and it is not in any way binding on the inspector.

I feel that the inquiry at Hinkley Point should try to confine itself to issues that are relevant to that site. We all concede that the world has moved on since the Sizewell inquiry. The price of fossil fuels has dropped further and faster than the inspector may have anticipated. But that has not necessarily undermined the economic case, because Hinkley C will be considerably cheaper than Sizewell. About £200 million-worth of design costs will not be incurred again.