LOCAL firms DJ Miles and Cricketer Farms are among dozens of South West companies which could share a £225 million windfall from the Hinkley C nuclear power station project.

EDF Energy announced today (Friday) that scores of South West companies have been successful in a competitive process to supply services to the proposed Hinkley C station.

Services include catering at the construction site, bussing of the workforce and accommodation management, as well as site utilities and infrastructure.

All the contracts are reliant on EDF Energy making a final investment decision on whether to go ahead with the new nuclear power station.

That decision is expected to be made after the summer break.

EDF said joining forces had been a key strategy behind the success of the South West firms, by forming alliances in order to leverage scale and expertise, with the backing and support of Somerset Chamber of Commerce.

Both DJ Miles and Cricketer Farms are members of the catering supplier Somerset Larder, which alone stands to benefit from construction workers spending an estimated £8 million on meals during the course of the build.

EDF estimates keeping the workforce fed will take 8,000 meals a day during the peak construction period – including 1.5 million eggs and half a million kilos of meat, fish and vegetables annually.

Other Somerset producers named as preferred bidders for the £225 million contract include fellow Somerset Larder members Cossey Produce Ltd, of Bridgwater, North Petherton’s Pynes of Somerset, Mortimers Bakery in Yeovil and Gundenham Dairy in Wellington.

Four Somerset companies – CML of Taunton, John West (contractors) Ltd of Weston-super-Mare, Brooking Ruse & Co also of Weston-super-Mare and Paragon Laundry in Yeovil – are the preferred bidders to manage the workers’ campus accommodation under the company name HOST.

FirstBus in Taunton and Crosville Motor Services Ltd of Weston-super-Mare are the preferred bidders to transport workers by bus thought the company Somerset Passenger Solutions.

The Somerset Infrastructure Alliance, incorporating three South West companies – Skanska of Taunton, RK Bell Ltd of Bridgwater and Forest Traffic Services of Newport and Bristol – is the preferred bidder for the site infrastructure services including site road maintenance, landscaping, signage and fencing.

And five South West firms – Wessex Water in Bath, RM Utilities Ltd of Exeter, Hydroline Solutions Ltd in Somerton, MMES 2012 Ltd of Bridgwater and the Bridgwater office of the Boultings Group – operating under the company name COMA, are the preferred bidders to provide construction utilities, including electrical networks across the site and support services.?