SIR — Residents of Burton, Shurton and Wick, the hamlets that will be most severely affected by the construction of Hinkley Point C power station, are fighting very hard to limit the damage that it will cause to our way of life.

We are very grateful for the help that we are receiving from West Somerset Council and from our own parish council.

However, despite this help, we are still very much the David against the might of the EDF Goliath.

The government has declared that it wishes to speed planning clearance for what it calls matters of national interest.

To this end EDF are being allowed to short-cut any prior work that would be normally required to local infrastructure before such a huge construction programme starts.

The programme is also tailored for speed, even though this is far more damaging to the locality.

In an attempt to show that justice is being done to local people, the government has declared that there will be considerable efforts made by the company to consult local people. This consultation process is happening.

However we have found that it consists of EDF telling us what they are going to do and asking us to comment. They then reply and say that our comments are noted, but change nothing. This has continued for around two years.

As you can imagine there is now a vast pile of comments and we only know that EDF have noted them.

The production of the comments has taken over many people`s lives. There are other people who do not have the time or maybe do not understand the process for commenting.

Yet their lives will be equally blighted by what is probably the biggest construction programme in Europe.

This is the first time that the new planning process has been applied to a major project. Government would like the process to be seen to be acceptable to local people so that future projects are not delayed.

We have tried to be positive and have always declared that we do not wish to prevent the construction of a power plant. However, the planning process is not satisfactory.

Local people need to know that they can change aspects of the programme that will severely damage their way of life.

They need a contact person who can explain events and who has the power to change them if they are damaging to the community.

The person should be readily available and answerable to local people, paid by the government and have the power to influence events.

The person should have similar powers to an ombudsman in other areas of government.

It is not too late to appoint an ombudsman for the Hinkley project. If the government wants the project to proceed with local blessing then such an appointment will be a positive step forward.

Peter Farmery,

Shurton.