ANTI-NUCLEAR protesters picketed peacefully ahead of a meeting to decide the future of controversial plans that will lay the ground for a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point yesterday (Thursday).

West Somerset Council had been put on high alert as its planning committee determined a bid by French energy company EDF for a raft of preliminary - but major - site works.

Although permission for the power station itself has yet to be granted - a decision expected to be taken next year by the independent Infrastructure Planning Commission - the scale of the preparation work meant the council was ready for a mass show of objection.

But less than 40 protesters lined up outside the authority's Williton headquarters as the Free Press went to print.

And with their banners fluttering peacefully in the breeze and their posters held with determination, their message was clear - but totally trouble free.

Representatives from Stop Hinkley, the Green Party, Exeter University, Burnham-on-Sea based Parents Concerned About Hinkley and South West Against Nuclear from Bristol joined the protest.

They had hoped to lobby councillors as they arrived for the meeting but planning committee members were inside the building by 8.30am.

A collision between a BMW car and an articulated lorry on the A39 at Holford just after 7.30pm - in which one man received minor injuries - blocked the road for a number of hours and may have delayed another mini-bus of protesters from Bristol.

But despite a heavy police response in the waiting, officers remained in the background and had little to do as supporters and objectors arrived to take their seats in the council chamber.

The council had set up a marquee in its staff car park to accommodate the expected crowds and drafted in half a dozen security guards.

Those speaking at the meeting had been told to bring identification and even given individual passwords to allow them entry.

But early on, at least, the marquee had seats to spare.

Councillors, faced with a 362-page report, were being recommended to approve the site works, which will cover more than 400 acres and involve the construction of roads, roundabouts and car parks.

Crispin Aubrey of Stop Hinkley said describing the application as "preparatory works" was inaccurate.

"The extent of the activity - the clearance of most vegetation, hedges and trees, the excavation of more than two million cubic metres of soil and rocks, the re-routing of underground streams, the major changes to the landscape and the start of deep excavations for the power station foundations - means it is effectively the beginning of construction of the proposed Hinkley C," he said.

Photo: Steve Guscott.

l For the planning committee's decision see our website update or next week's Free Press for the full story.