SIR — Thank you for reporting that EdF have now submitted their application for the preparatory works prior to applying for permission to build the Hinkley C Power Station.

As a resident of Shurton, the nearest hamlet to this site, I am completely familiar with the land and indeed walk my dog there on a daily basis.

I wonder how many of your readers have ever been down here and seen for themselves this beautiful, tranquil landscape of rolling hills, farmed fields , ancient hedgerows and country walks - a haven for wildlife of all kinds.

To watch the buzzards wheeling in the sky against the background of the Bristol Channel is a joy in itself, always with that stunnning view of the Quantocks and Exmoor.

If EdF get their way, this will all be a thing of the past very soon.

The valleys will be filled in and new hills created - of spoil and dug-out sub-soil and rock. The woodland and hedgerows will be gone and in their place there will be forbidding security fences, roads and car parks.

To say that they will reinstate the land if they do not get permission for the building of the power station is a travesty - having filled in the valleys, how will they remove all those tonnes of debris? How will they replant centuries-old hedges and trees? Will all the wildlife return? Can they preserve and replace the archaeological remains which exist on the site?

A friend sent me a link to a Youtube video which sums up the situation really well. I hope that your readers will take ten minutes to look at it and see what EdF are planning, not just for the site itself, but for the wider community.

Type 'Man in the street - EDF' into your search bar - and you'll have your eyes opened.

Please then - do not delay. Write to the West Somerset Council planners at Williton and tell them what you think of this highly premature application.

Barbara Oates,

Shurton.