:00:04. > :00:09.Hello and welcome to Inside Out South West, stories from close to
:00:09. > :00:13.home. Tonight:
:00:13. > :00:16.I wonder if I might ask you if you are going to resign today?
:00:16. > :00:18.The power struggle threatening the future of an iconic South West
:00:18. > :00:22.fishing port. No fish market, rundown harbour, rundown port, less
:00:22. > :00:26.fishermen, disaster. What I'd like you to do is taste
:00:26. > :00:29.from each glass. Also tonight, head to head. David
:00:30. > :00:35.Stafford investigates which Dartmoor beer really is the best.
:00:35. > :00:40.Let the tasting begin! And David Braine on the tsunami
:00:40. > :00:43.disaster that the nuclear industry says couldn't happen here.
:00:43. > :00:53.Because we don't get tsunamis in Britain, do we? Well, actually, we
:00:53. > :01:06.
:01:06. > :01:10.I'm Sam Smith and this is Inside First tonight, a bitter split in
:01:10. > :01:14.one of the South West's most historic fishing communities. As we
:01:14. > :01:19.found out, it's down to a row that's gone all the way from West
:01:19. > :01:27.Cornwall to Whitehall. At one time, Newlyn was England's
:01:27. > :01:29.premier fishing port. But not any more. What is beautiful,
:01:29. > :01:32.potentially with the sea and everything it can offer to tourists
:01:32. > :01:35.and local people alike has just taken a dip. The organisation that
:01:35. > :01:38.runs the harbour has been accused of acting unlawfully and favouring
:01:38. > :01:46.the interests of on powerful fishing family at the cost of
:01:46. > :01:49.progress. I was hoping this was an opportunity to take Newlyn forward,
:01:49. > :01:54.but what I've seen of it so far, it's not just stagnating, it's
:01:55. > :01:57.starting to go backwards. Newlyn Harbour is in crisis, its
:01:57. > :02:04.development hampered by a dispute that affects all those who depend
:02:04. > :02:07.upon the port for their future prosperity. Local councillor Fiona
:02:07. > :02:15.Thomas-Lambourn is frustrated by the lack of progress in attempts to
:02:15. > :02:19.revitalise her home town. This time last year, we were hoping for great
:02:19. > :02:21.things, with a new fish market and everything going well. And then
:02:21. > :02:26.suddenly, with this last blundering nonsense, it's just wrecked
:02:26. > :02:29.everything, to be honest with you. And it is through, actually, a few
:02:29. > :02:35.people wanting too much power and things to themselves that this has
:02:35. > :02:41.happened. Two years ago, Newlyn Harbour looked set for a radical
:02:41. > :02:44.transformation. A seven-year consultation, costing the taxpayer
:02:44. > :02:54.around �500,000, recommended a new state of the art fish market to
:02:54. > :02:54.
:02:54. > :03:01.replace the old one. It's tatty, old, looks horrible. It's very
:03:01. > :03:06.expensive to run. Costs 180,000 a year to run this fish market.
:03:06. > :03:09.idea was to breathe new life into the whole harbour area. If we had
:03:09. > :03:19.vast improvements to the harbour and a new fish market, I think we'd
:03:19. > :03:29.
:03:29. > :03:32.regenerate Newlyn. But there was one big stumbling block.The new
:03:32. > :03:38.market was to be run by a community interest company and back in 2009
:03:38. > :03:41.Stevenson & Sons were having none of it. Why should I pay someone
:03:41. > :03:46.else to do something I've been doing for 106 years? Why shouldn't
:03:46. > :03:49.I do what I want with my fish? Might it not be in the best long-
:03:49. > :03:52.term interests of this community to have an independent market that can
:03:52. > :03:55.raise finance, that can charge the Stevensons a commission for putting
:03:55. > :04:05.their fish through this market and put some of that money back into
:04:05. > :04:09.
:04:09. > :04:14.the community? I need a rest. harbour is run by a self-selecting
:04:14. > :04:19.board of commissioners. Last August, they decided against going ahead
:04:19. > :04:26.with the new �5m market. The commissioners stood accused of
:04:26. > :04:29.being unduly influenced by the port's biggest boat owner. They
:04:29. > :04:33.only go along with whoever the biggest and the strongest is, cos
:04:33. > :04:37.actually, this is talking about a fishing community. A lot of the
:04:37. > :04:39.smaller guys who would have had the most benefit out of this didn't get
:04:40. > :04:42.a chance to voice their opinions. Months of in-fighting among the
:04:42. > :04:50.commissioners followed, culminating in a bizarre series of events that
:04:50. > :04:52.have plunged the harbour into crisis. In a shock move, the
:04:52. > :05:00.chairman proposed that three commissioners that had supported
:05:00. > :05:03.the fish market proposals be thrown out. He said they were preventing
:05:03. > :05:09.the commissioners from moving forward. A secret ballot sealed
:05:09. > :05:11.their fate. The decision went the way of the chairman's
:05:11. > :05:15.recommendation only because it included votes from members who
:05:15. > :05:21.weren't even there. The ousted commissioners said the decision to
:05:21. > :05:26.remove them was unjust and unlawful. I spent weeks of my time working
:05:26. > :05:28.positively to help the commission and Newlyn. Actually, the three of
:05:28. > :05:35.us have submitted more papers and more suggestions for discussion
:05:35. > :05:39.than any of the other board members put together. There was no reason
:05:39. > :05:42.to do it, the chairman was not giving any reason. There are so
:05:42. > :05:47.many things wrong with it. Votes counted for people who weren't
:05:47. > :05:50.there, secret ballots. It was a complete mess. The commissioner's
:05:50. > :05:52.rules, laid down by Parliament, do not allow votes from absent members,
:05:52. > :06:02.something the chairman seemed to have realised later, because he
:06:02. > :06:05.sends an email inviting Nick Howell to the next meeting. I laughed when
:06:05. > :06:15.it came in, cos I thought, "Ah, they've taken some advice, realised
:06:15. > :06:17.
:06:17. > :06:19.they were acting unlawfully." And when I saw the agenda, I realised,
:06:19. > :06:23."No, no-one's given them any advice." Quite interesting to
:06:23. > :06:26.invite the two of us to a meeting to make up the numbers and the
:06:26. > :06:30.second part of that meeting is a motion to get John and I thrown out,
:06:30. > :06:33.again. Why don't they just admit they are under pressure and get on
:06:33. > :06:35.with the job, or get out? Others in Newlyn share Nick's frustration.
:06:35. > :06:38.They include a fisherman, a former councillor and a fellow
:06:38. > :06:41.commissioner who has resigned in protest I was on the commission,
:06:41. > :06:43.hoping to make Newlyn a better place, but when they were being
:06:43. > :06:49.unfair to hard-working commissioners, I felt I had to
:06:49. > :06:53.resign. I've been a fisherman all my life, born and bred in Newlyn
:06:53. > :06:56.and I was hoping that this was an opportunity to take Newlyn forward
:06:56. > :07:01.and what I've seen of it so far is that Newlyn is not just stagnating,
:07:01. > :07:06.it's starting to go backwards. And the people they've driven off seem
:07:06. > :07:08.to be the people that were doing the most to benefit Newlyn.
:07:08. > :07:18.actual commissioners are the ones that's brought, including the
:07:18. > :07:20.chairman, the harbour commission into disrepute. The harbour
:07:20. > :07:24.commissioners are meeting here today at Trinity Methodist Church,
:07:24. > :07:27.which is also a community centre. The press and public are allowed
:07:27. > :07:33.into the meeting so I've come along to try and find out exactly what's
:07:33. > :07:35.going on. Well, this is very strange. It's 8:30pm and this is
:07:35. > :07:40.where the meeting of the harbour commissioners is supposed to take
:07:40. > :07:45.place. It's supposed to be happening right now, but there's
:07:45. > :07:48.nobody here. The plot thickens. People do eventually start to turn
:07:48. > :07:55.up but the only commissioners in evidence are the ones Mr McCabe
:07:55. > :07:59.wants out. The meeting was rather abruptly cancelled yesterday.
:07:59. > :08:02.you're here. I'm here because the residents of Newlyn who are
:08:02. > :08:11.interested in this are having a meeting anyway to discuss the
:08:11. > :08:17.situation and to learn a bit more about it. We wanted to film the
:08:17. > :08:21.meeting but Fiona has bad news. Our camera is not allowed in. I think
:08:21. > :08:24.the best thing is that we go down to the mission and we hold it in
:08:24. > :08:29.the dining room. Because it's public. Public. I'm not having you
:08:29. > :08:32.not in when that's the whole point. But there's a problem here too.
:08:32. > :08:40.Unfortunately, the superintendent says we cannot film in the mission.
:08:40. > :08:46.Why not? He just will not allow it. We end up on Newlyn's Old Quay,
:08:46. > :08:49.where John explains their next step. We have asked the Department of
:08:49. > :08:53.Transport to have a look at this, to investigate it, to take over the
:08:53. > :08:56.management in an interim and to go right through to the end and
:08:56. > :08:59.appoint a new commission because we think the situation is in such a
:08:59. > :09:08.shambolic muddle at the moment that that is the only way it will go
:09:08. > :09:11.forward. But later, in a statement, the Department for Transport said
:09:11. > :09:15.they are unwilling to intervene and that it is up to the commissioners
:09:15. > :09:21.to put their own house in order. Several weeks later, commissioners
:09:21. > :09:26.and members of the public turn up for the next board meeting. And
:09:26. > :09:36.Nick Howell and John Lambourn face a third attempt to sack them. The
:09:36. > :09:37.
:09:37. > :09:41.chairman has so far ignored our requests for an interview. Mr
:09:41. > :09:44.McCabe, hello. Sam Smith from the BBC, I wonder if I might ask you if
:09:44. > :09:47.you are going to resign today, because a number of people here
:09:47. > :09:50.seem to think you should. I am going to a meeting, thank you very
:09:50. > :09:53.much. They say you've presided over a shambles. Mr McCabe still refuses
:09:53. > :09:57.to answer our questions. And although the press and public are
:09:57. > :09:59.allowed in for part of the meeting, again we are not allowed to film it.
:09:59. > :10:04.With the public later excluded, the commissioners elect Elizabeth
:10:04. > :10:12.Stevenson onto their board for three years. And once again, they
:10:12. > :10:15.sack Nick Howell and John Lambourn. The fact that we have, once again,
:10:15. > :10:19.been thrown out now raises the question of how are they going to
:10:19. > :10:28.go forward? Because there will a section that feels they are not
:10:28. > :10:30.doing the best for Newlyn. Fiona now fears the worst for Newlyn.
:10:30. > :10:38.fish market, rundown harbour, rundown port, less fishermen,
:10:38. > :10:43.disaster. Disaster for the community, disaster for everyone.
:10:43. > :10:47.The sacked commissioners are now seeking legal advice. The board of
:10:47. > :10:57.commissioners is looking for new members to replace them. While this
:10:57. > :11:00.
:11:00. > :11:03.dispute rumbles on, the One of the great pleasures of
:11:03. > :11:10.living in and visiting the South West is being able to sample local
:11:10. > :11:18.produce, local food and drink. But as David Stafford has been finding
:11:18. > :11:21.out, there's local and there's local.
:11:21. > :11:24.One of the region's smallest companies is mixing it with one of
:11:24. > :11:29.the biggest, over the name of a beer. Dartmoor represents us, we're
:11:29. > :11:38.Dartmoor Brewery. This frothy version of David and Goliath has
:11:38. > :11:44.led to some confusion. Dartmoor. Dartmoor. And divided
:11:44. > :11:48.loyalties among the local publicans. We are able to put it at �2.60,
:11:48. > :11:52.which in this economy is good. made a conscious decision that we
:11:52. > :11:55.was going to go as local as possible, even though it cost a bit
:11:55. > :12:05.more. Two local beers go head to head in our very own battle of the
:12:05. > :12:06.
:12:06. > :12:16.beers. Dartmoor, Southern England's highest wilderness. There's nowhere
:12:16. > :12:17.
:12:17. > :12:20.quite like it, is there? Now, I've had a lovely walk but the only
:12:20. > :12:28.thing on my mind right now is, "Where can I find a pub that will
:12:28. > :12:31.do a decent pint of local ale?" Should have brought a map. Hang on
:12:31. > :12:36.a minute. Dartmoor. Dartmoor. Is there
:12:36. > :12:39.actually any difference between these two? Yes, Dartmoor IPA is
:12:39. > :12:47.brewed in the local village and Dartmoor Best is brewed by St
:12:47. > :12:50.Austell's Brewery in St Austell. The brewers of these two beers have
:12:50. > :12:57.been locked in a bitter struggle over which one of them is entitled
:12:57. > :13:02.to the name Dartmoor. Dartmoor Best was originally brewed in Devon, at
:13:02. > :13:07.Ferguson's Brewery in Plympton. But that shut down nearly 20 years ago,
:13:07. > :13:10.and since then it has been produced by St Austell Brewery in Cornwall.
:13:10. > :13:17.The brewers of Dartmoor IPA, located in Princetown at the heart
:13:17. > :13:21.of the National Park, are hopping mad. When people buy a product,
:13:21. > :13:23.whether it's our beer, or a cheese, or a biscuit, or honey, if they see
:13:23. > :13:30.the word Dartmoor written across that product, they feel that
:13:30. > :13:33.product is made on the moor, that is what they are looking for. But
:13:33. > :13:35.anyone can use the word Dartmoor, as long as they put in little
:13:35. > :13:40.writing underneath, "Made in Argentina," "Made in Cornwall,"
:13:40. > :13:43."Made in Dorset," what have you. That is wrong. Even though their
:13:43. > :13:46.Dartmoor Ale entered the market later than its rival, Mark
:13:46. > :13:56.Shackleton claims his brewery is more entitled to the name because
:13:56. > :14:04.
:14:04. > :14:07.its product is made on Dartmoor. 90% of what you have in our beer is
:14:07. > :14:10.local Dartmoor water, from the Moors around you. We try to keep
:14:10. > :14:17.our ingredients as close as we can, so basically from Devon. Dartmoor
:14:17. > :14:20.Brewery faces stiff competition from its Cornwall neighbour. Partly
:14:20. > :14:23.because it has a lower alcohol content, St Austell is able to
:14:23. > :14:26.undercut its competitor by around �10 a barrel, which counts for a
:14:26. > :14:32.lot in these straitened times. Almost 7,500 pubs have shut in the
:14:32. > :14:38.last five years and they are still closing at the rate of two a day.
:14:38. > :14:43.They want to turn it into flats! The landlady at the Bishop Lacy on
:14:43. > :14:46.the edge of Dartmoor knows just how tough it can be. I was a nurse for
:14:46. > :14:53.20 years and all I can say is if people think nursing work is hard
:14:53. > :14:58.work, they ought to try being a publican. For publicans like Wendy,
:14:58. > :15:03.St Austell's Dartmoor Best is an attractive proposition. It's a lot
:15:03. > :15:07.cheaper. We're able to put it out at �2.60 per pint for our customers,
:15:07. > :15:12.which in this climate's good. Can't do that with any other beers,
:15:12. > :15:21.really. You might think that other local pubs, like Wendy's, are
:15:21. > :15:24.passing on this saving to their customers. But Inside Out contacted
:15:24. > :15:29.a dozen or so pubs in the Dartmoor area and discovered that this just
:15:29. > :15:32.isn't the case. The average price of a Cornish pint is �2.94, that's
:15:32. > :15:36.compared to �2.90 for the Devon brewery. So it must be tempting for
:15:36. > :15:43.landlords to stock the Cornish beer and make a tidy profit, but not all
:15:43. > :15:49.of them are so inclined. At the pub that sits on the bank of the River
:15:49. > :15:52.Dart, the beer that flows is the local beer, Dartmoor Brewery's IPA.
:15:52. > :15:57.When we first came to Dartmoor, about 15 months ago, they were
:15:58. > :16:04.serving Dartmoor Best Bitter, from St Austell's here. We decided we
:16:04. > :16:07.wanted to go as local as possible with all our products. We've got
:16:07. > :16:15.our steaks, our burgers local so it was only naturally that we have to
:16:15. > :16:18.go with our beer as local as possible. It's worth it. Paul is
:16:18. > :16:24.one of several landlords keeping it local, despite the smaller profit
:16:24. > :16:27.margin. St Austell Brewery did not want to take part in this film. In
:16:27. > :16:35.a statement, they told us that Dartmoor Best is a key brand in
:16:35. > :16:38.their range. But who stands to lose most if they lost the brand name?
:16:38. > :16:44.St Austell says it sells more than a million pints a year. This
:16:44. > :16:49.represents around 7% of their total sales. Back on Dartmoor, Mark
:16:49. > :16:59.Shackleton says the brand means more to his brewery. It's literally
:16:59. > :17:02.25%, if not more, of the beer we produce. Plus, because of the name,
:17:02. > :17:07.it is a very, very important brand to us because it's named after
:17:07. > :17:13.Dartmoor. You're not going to let this lie, are you? We aren't,
:17:13. > :17:16.because we're passionate about it. In 2009, the two rival breweries
:17:16. > :17:20.signed a truce, saying they would not challenge each other's use of
:17:20. > :17:22.the word Dartmoor. But hostilities have broken out again and Dartmoor
:17:22. > :17:25.Brewery are hoping for reinforcements from the EU, in the
:17:25. > :17:33.shape of protection for the Dartmoor brand, much as Cornwall
:17:33. > :17:36.achieved for its Cornish pasty. if it has Dartmoor on the label,
:17:36. > :17:41.whether it's our beer, whether it's bread, whether it's eggs, it comes
:17:41. > :17:44.from Dartmoor. Number one, that prospects the consumer, because if
:17:44. > :17:53.the consumer buys something with Dartmoor on the label, they want
:17:53. > :17:57.that to come from Dartmoor. Austell Brewery says it does not
:17:58. > :18:01.want to be drawn into a Devon versus Cornwall debate. It also
:18:01. > :18:05.says it is proud to serve the whole South West and provides employment
:18:05. > :18:11.in Devon as well as Cornwall. But never mind the debate, what about
:18:11. > :18:14.the taste? Which beer do punters prefer? We arranged for a barrel of
:18:14. > :18:16.St Austell's Dartmoor Best to go on tap alongside a barrel of
:18:16. > :18:26.Dartmoor's IPA at Princetown's Plume of Feathers, for the same
:18:26. > :18:29.
:18:29. > :18:36.price. Which one will sell the Halfway through a busy Saturday
:18:36. > :18:40.evening, I ask Steve for the verdict from the till. The Dartmoor
:18:40. > :18:47.IPA has outsold the Dartmoor Best by about three to one. Three to
:18:47. > :18:51.one? That's a triumph for the local boy, then. It is this time, yeah.
:18:51. > :18:54.But with Dartmoor Brewery just down the road, could that result be down
:18:54. > :18:57.to customers favouring the local tipple? We decided to conduct a
:18:57. > :19:02.more genuine examination of each beer's credentials, with the help
:19:02. > :19:04.of half a dozen all too willing volunteers.
:19:04. > :19:07.What I'd like you to do is taste from each glass.
:19:07. > :19:11.You may repeat the process as necessary, until you've come to a
:19:11. > :19:16.decision as to which beer you prefer. Is that understood? Let the
:19:16. > :19:22.tasting begin! Each contestant raises the hand that held the beer
:19:22. > :19:27.they prefer. So we have one, two, three, four,
:19:27. > :19:35.five right hands and just one left hand. Can you please remove your
:19:35. > :19:41.blindfolds? And I will tell you the results. The winner, by a margin of
:19:41. > :19:45.five votes to one, is Dartmoor IPA by Dartmoor Brewery! Give yourself
:19:45. > :19:49.a round of applause. The local ale might have triumphed in its own
:19:49. > :19:51.backyard, but the real battle of the beers is far from over. The
:19:51. > :20:01.bureaucrats of Brussels may eventually call time on this local
:20:01. > :20:02.
:20:03. > :20:05.dispute but until then, whose round The tsunami that hit Japan earlier
:20:06. > :20:10.this year has highlighted the risk of building nuclear power plants by
:20:10. > :20:20.the sea. Spotlight weatherman David Braine has been examining fears
:20:20. > :20:24.
:20:24. > :20:27.that a similar catastrophe could Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station
:20:27. > :20:35.sits on the edge of the Somerset levels, an area that's seen
:20:35. > :20:39.flooding, storm surges and even, it is thought, a tsunami. A great wall
:20:39. > :20:46.of water came up the estuary and the houses that were there then
:20:46. > :20:50.owners of Hinkley Point dismiss tsunami fears. All our analysis
:20:50. > :20:54.suggests it's an ideal spot to build a power station.
:20:54. > :20:57.campaigners say it is too big a risk. Our concern would be that a
:20:57. > :21:01.massive wall of water coming in from the sea would knock out the
:21:01. > :21:08.power supply and that could build up into a meltdown of the fuel, the
:21:08. > :21:10.sort of thing that happened at Fukushima in Japan. It was a
:21:10. > :21:17.massive offshore earthquake that triggered the tsunami in Japan
:21:17. > :21:20.earlier this year. 16,000 people are known to have died. The
:21:20. > :21:25.Fukushima nuclear plant was engulfed by a 15-metre wall of
:21:25. > :21:31.water. Flooding knocked out power supplies, which eventually caused a
:21:32. > :21:36.meltdown. The area around the plant remains uninhabited. In the South
:21:36. > :21:39.West, there is only one nuclear power station. This one at Hinkley
:21:39. > :21:41.Point near Bridgewater. And if energy supplier EDF are successful
:21:41. > :21:51.with their current planning application for Hinkley C, this
:21:51. > :21:53.will become Britain's biggest nuclear power station to date. If a
:21:53. > :21:58.Fukushima-type disaster happened here, the exclusion zone would
:21:58. > :22:06.reach Taunton. But we have no worries on that score because we
:22:06. > :22:09.don't get tsunamis in Britain, do we? Well, actually we do. A three-
:22:10. > :22:19.metre tsunami hit the South West tip of Cornwall in 1755, after an
:22:19. > :22:21.earthquake that destroyed the city of Lisbon. But far more devastating
:22:21. > :22:31.was a cataclysmic event that battered our coastline a century
:22:31. > :22:33.
:22:33. > :22:35.and a half earlier, causing death and devastation on a vast scale.
:22:35. > :22:38.Cardiff academic Simon Haslett believes it was another tsunami. I
:22:38. > :22:41.met him in Appledore. In the area where the houses are built behind
:22:41. > :22:44.us, houses that were there then were completely demolished, so
:22:44. > :22:49.we're looking at a significant wave height, about seven or eight metres
:22:49. > :22:53.or so. We've also got records that there was a ship, a 60-tonne ship,
:22:53. > :22:59.fully laden with goods and ready to set sail, that was simply hoisted
:22:59. > :23:01.out of the water and transported onto land. Simon's tsunami theory
:23:01. > :23:03.has been challenged by the meteorological establishment, which
:23:03. > :23:12.thinks there may be a more straightforward explanation for the
:23:12. > :23:15.flooding that happened four centuries ago. On the day the great
:23:15. > :23:20.wave crashed ashore here, in 1607, there were spring tides and it hit
:23:20. > :23:23.around about the time of high water. We know from bitter experience that
:23:23. > :23:27.that, combined with low pressure, strong to gale force onshore winds,
:23:27. > :23:37.a lot of run off due to recent rain, is the classic set up for a severe
:23:37. > :23:37.
:23:37. > :23:39.storm surge, something we see quite As recently as 1981, a storm surge
:23:39. > :23:46.caused serious flooding when it overtopped sea defences at Burnham
:23:46. > :23:53.in Somerset. But Simon insists the storm surge explanation doesn't
:23:53. > :23:56.account for the ferocity of the 1607 event. Flooding that's created
:23:56. > :24:00.by storms is quite different to that created by a tsunami and I
:24:00. > :24:10.always tell my students that a storm surge is very much like a
:24:10. > :24:10.
:24:10. > :24:13.bath to overflowing. -- bath tub. The tide gets to the top of the
:24:13. > :24:16.bath, if you like, then flows over the sea defences and the first
:24:16. > :24:19.thing you know about being flooded is that your feet are getting wet.
:24:19. > :24:22.Whereas, one account from the time described a mighty wave advancing
:24:22. > :24:25.at a speed "faster than a greyhound can run." In support of Simon's
:24:25. > :24:28.theory, there are accounts of seismic activity in this area in
:24:28. > :24:35.the months following the 1607 flood. But neither appears in official
:24:35. > :24:41.Simon and I are travelling more than 50 miles up the coast to
:24:42. > :24:47.Hinkley Point, close to the scene of the 1981 flood at Burnham. This
:24:47. > :24:50.is the site of two nuclear power plants. Hinkley A, now
:24:50. > :24:54.decommissioned, and Hinkley B, nearing the end of its useful life.
:24:54. > :25:04.Could the 1607 event have travelled this far? Simon says the narrowing
:25:04. > :25:07.of the Bristol Channel would have made it even worse. By the time it
:25:07. > :25:10.gets here, it's actually what we call a higher amplitude, it's a
:25:10. > :25:13.bigger flow. In fact, probably two or three metres higher. Once the
:25:14. > :25:17.flood water reached the Somerset levels, there was no stopping it.
:25:17. > :25:22.Both sides of the Bristol Channel were devastated, all the way up to
:25:22. > :25:26.Bristol and beyond. About 2,000 people altogether died. This is a
:25:26. > :25:30.colossal amount. And if that's true, it makes the 1607 flood the worst
:25:30. > :25:34.natural disaster to hit British soil. And one of the worst affected
:25:34. > :25:37.areas were the parishes around Bridgewater. And we think in that
:25:37. > :25:41.area alone, around 500 people drowned, or perhaps, because it was
:25:41. > :25:51.January, died of hypothermia in the flood waters. So much so that
:25:51. > :25:52.
:25:52. > :26:02.apparently mass graves had to be Storm surge or tsunami, there's no
:26:02. > :26:05.
:26:05. > :26:07.doubt something terrible happened As part of its plan to reduce
:26:07. > :26:12.greenhouse gas emissions, the Government wants to see an
:26:12. > :26:18.expansion of nuclear power. The ground is now being prepared for
:26:18. > :26:24.Hinkley C. If its operator, EDF, is granted full planning permission,
:26:24. > :26:28.the new plant will be five times more powerful than Hinkley B.
:26:28. > :26:33.Protestors hope that day will never come. Their opposition is based
:26:33. > :26:37.partly on the fear of a repeat of the 1607 event. Our concern would
:26:37. > :26:42.be that a massive wall of water coming in from the sea would knock
:26:42. > :26:47.out the power supply. It would also knock out the back-up electricity,
:26:47. > :26:50.so the plant would have no electricity. And although it would
:26:50. > :26:53.automatically shut down and the control rods would fall into the
:26:53. > :26:57.reactor, there would still be a lot of residual heat. That could build
:26:57. > :27:01.up into a meltdown of the fuel, the sort of thing that happened at
:27:01. > :27:03.Fukushima in Japan. EDF is confident such an event could never
:27:03. > :27:09.happen here, not least because Hinkley C will house a different
:27:09. > :27:10.type of reactor from those employed at Fukushima. There's a very
:27:10. > :27:13.comprehensive back-up supply arrangement on the existing
:27:13. > :27:19.stations and the new station's got an even more comprehensive array of
:27:19. > :27:22.back-up supply. The reactors at Fukushima are not licensed in the
:27:22. > :27:27.UK, they've never been licensed and we're not looking to license that
:27:27. > :27:30.type of reactor. The pressurised water reactor we're proposing to
:27:30. > :27:39.build here has got a huge legacy throughout the world, where it's
:27:39. > :27:42.been proven to be a very safe design. EDF says its power station
:27:42. > :27:52.is elevated above the surrounding flood plain and its plans take full
:27:52. > :28:03.
:28:03. > :28:06.account of the 1607 event. current stations have operated
:28:06. > :28:09.successfully for over 60 years and there have been four nuclear power
:28:09. > :28:12.stations along the Severn Estuary over that period of time, all have
:28:12. > :28:15.operated safely. We intend to do the same and all our analysis
:28:15. > :28:17.suggests this is an ideal spot to build a nuclear power station.
:28:17. > :28:20.Stop Hinkley campaign will probably never be convinced by such
:28:20. > :28:28.reassurances. But if the planning authorities allow it, work on the