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“Second biggest hotel in Europe”: Hinkley C nuclear site

Europe’s "second biggest hotel" is in the quiet town of Bridgewater, in Somerset, England.

It was built by French energy giant EDF to house nearly 1,000 people building the UK’s next nuclear power station, Hinkley C, which is itself the biggest building site in Europe.

The hotel, and the effect of 1,000 new people in Bridgwater, is the subject of a special BBC Radio 4 documentary to be aired this week.

It follows the life-long Bridgwater resident Emma Britton as she probes what the hotel means for the town.

"I’ve always lived here and I reckon barring a lottery win I probably always will," she said in a BBC media release about the programme.

Although the hotel is bringing prosperity to the area – creating jobs and bringing new restaurants and shops – some are worried about house prices rocketing, traffic increasing and parking being swallowed up.

EDF’s Sedgemoor Campus is just a few minutes’ walk from Britton’s home (BBC)

Some even predict this new influx of men could lead to more divorces and pop-up brothels.

The figures for construction of Hinkley are extraordinary: at its height it will need 5,600 workers, bringing 20,000 people to the area and costing twice that of the entire 2012 Olympics.

The hotel is known as ‘Sedgemoor Campus’ and is just a few minutes’ walk from Britton’s home.

"For me this programme is about my home town of Bridgwater, which I love, and the impact on my hometown of not actually the building of a nuclear power station but what that comes with, and what that’s come with around the corner from my house."

"Not the Biggest Hotel in Europe" is on BBC Radio 4 at 11am on Friday, February 15. It is available on the BBC Sounds app immediately afterwards.

Top image: Life-long Bridgwater resident Emma Britton probes what the hotel means for the town (BBC)

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Comments

  1. Hinkley C must be cancelled as it cannot comply with the 2012 Health and Social Care Act requirement to protect the public from exposure to nuclear radiation. Caesium 137 causes heart attacks, strokes, brain tumours and sudden premature deaths all of which have increased in Somerset since vents were installed into the Hinkley A Magnox reactors in 2006.

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