DEVELOPERS wanting to build up to 15,000 homes near a nuclear weapons factory in West Berkshire have suffered a major blow after they lost a legal battle.

The site in Grazeley, which is around one mile from AWE Burghfield, had been earmarked for a huge ‘garden town’ but the project has been thrown into doubt.

That’s because in March 2020, West Berkshire Council extended the Detailed Emergency Planning Zone (DEPZ) around the factory and it now covers that site.

Anyone in the zone can be affected by a “reasonably foreseeable” radiation emergency and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) says it’s not safe to build thousands of homes there because it would be “challenging” to evacuate or shelter all the residents quickly during a radiation emergency.

What happened in court?

Three companies – Crest Nicholson, Hallam Land Management and Wilson Enterprises Limited – took the council to court and challenged its decision to extend the DEPZ through a Judicial Review.

They claimed the council had failed to provide sufficient reasons for the decision and the oversight of the decision-making process was “deficient”. 

But High Court judge Mrs Justice Thornton ruled in favour of the council, concluding that it was obliged to extend the zone and the decision was based on a “highly technical, scientific predictive assessment” that was conducted correctly by nuclear experts.

She also refused to disclose that assessment with the developers due to concerns about “national security implications”.

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The judge’s ruling states: “The claimants’ case fails to grapple properly, or at all, with the true significance in public safety terms of the designation process. Nor does it show any proper understanding of the national security issues arising from the information which underlies the decision.

“The claim is motivated entirely by the claimants’ private proprietary interests in the development of its site.”

It adds: “The extension (of the DEPZ) covers much of the 700 hectares of land belonging to the claimants and previously earmarked for the development of 15000 homes.”

Why did West Berkshire Council extend the zone?

In 2011, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan was hit by a powerful earthquake that caused the reactors to meltdown and everyone within a 12-mile radius of the plant had to be evacuated.

This prompted the UK government to introduce new legislation – known as Radiation Emergency Preparedness and Public Information Regulations (REPPIR) 2019 – which required every organisation working with nuclear material to review their emergency plans using a new framework.

After Atomic Weapons Establishment, which runs AWE Burghfield, carried out that detailed review, it produced a consequences report which stated the radius of the DEPZ around the factory should be increased from 1,600 metres to 3,160 metres.

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That recommendation was thoroughly assessed and approved by Public Health England and the Office for Nuclear Regulation.

According to The Ministry of Defence (MOD), the DEPZ was extended “due to changes in the evaluation and assessment required under REPPIR 2019, not because of any changes in the inventory of materials or in the operations at AWE Burghfield”.

West Berkshire Council was legally required to accept that recommendation and extend the DEPZ when it prepared its Off-Site Emergency Plan for the factory.

Will the 15,000 home project be scrapped?

After the judge confirmed the council’s decision to extend the DEPZ was legal and appropriate, one thing is clear – the DEPZ will remain in place for some time.

While there are no rules that explicitly state you cannot build homes in a DEPZ, the MOD states it will not be safe to build thousands of homes within this zone.

The MOD has written an eight-page objection letter which also states the project could “restrict operations” and the nuclear weapons factory and this “could have an adverse impact on the nation’s security”.

It is also highly unlikely the project will get off the ground without support and planning permission from the relevant councils.

West Berkshire Council, Wokingham Borough Council and Reading Borough Council had been working with the developers to prepare plans for this garden village in Grazeley, allocate land and secure funding for infrastructure.

But West Berkshire Council has abandoned the project, after it extended the DEPZ and the government rejected a £252 million bid for infrastructure funding in 2020.

Wokingham Borough Council, which was leading the 15,000-home project, has not scrapped it yet. But the council said it is now “looking at alternatives”.

Reading Borough Council has not pulled out, but says the project “cannot be delivered at this time” without the support of the other two councils.