EDF workers living in village accommodation around Hinkley Point are being moved out to purpose-built campuses after residents claimed they had become a major health risk.

There were protests that, while residents were in lockdown, HPC construction worker could “come and go as they wish”.

Stogursey Parish Council chairman Cllr Chris Morgan said: “Residents are very scared and concerned. You have a very large group of people doing what everyone else has been told not to do. When you have a predominantly older age group of residents, it could be a recipe for disaster.”

The situation was highlighted by the Free Press on March 27 and this week EDF said that extra steps had now been taken top limit contact between the site and the local community. These included moving workers from village accommodation into two campus sites which had strict health precautions.

Previously a large number of workers had been living in multiple occupation buildings in Stogursey and Burton and houses and rented rooms in surrounding villages. There was also concern that they were returning to their family homes in Covid 19 hotspots like South Wales and the West Midlands at weekends before returning, unchecked, to the site.

This week Cllr Morgan, the area’s councillor on Somerset West and Taunton authority, hailed the EDF decision as “a great result and an important step forward in keeping local people safe”.

He added: “It needed a local protest to move things on, but EDF have listened to our concerns and taken the right decisions.”

An EDF spokesman said that after a 2,000 reduction in the workforce, new anti-virus measures also included phasing out bus pick-ups from village locations and taking workers to secure park-and-ride centres where social distances can be supervised.

There will also be body temperature checks at site gates, extra buses to reduce the numbers on each vehicle, enhanced cleaning of buses and buildings, thermal imaging cameras and increased distances between seating.

Hinkley Point delivery director Nigel Cann said: “The safety of the community we operate in, and our remaining workers on site is of paramount importance.

“We are listening and adapting to feedback to help us improve wherever we can, and we are closely following Government and Public Health England advice.”