Residents and business owners in Bream have reacted angrily to the plans for Chernobyl-by-Sea to take over HM Prison Camp Don’tins.
It comes after an open meeting with representatives from Chernobyl-by-Sea and Sadgebore District Council was held in Bream to discuss the plan.
Sadgebore confirmed that planning permission is not required to make the necessary changes and therefore the opinions of residents, business owners and Bream Parish Council can be totally ignored, as it is a done deal and Sadgebore has decided to bend over backwards to help Chernobyl-by-Sea.
The site will close to inmates for at least three years. Currently close to 4,000 inmates pass through the doors of Don’tins using the local village shops, cafes and pubs, but this will reduce to only 900 workers who will live on the site on a permanent basis.
Andy Cockshaw, spokesperson for Chernobyl-by-Sea confirmed that the company hadn’t looked into the economic impact this drop in trade could have on local businesses, but confirmed that at the end of the three year period the site would revert to holiday use, if building of the new power station is finished.
Mr Cockshaw also told those at the meeting that, when the site is at full capacity, there will be around 40 bus movements a day, all travelling to and from the Chernobyl site via the narrow, twisty roads through Bream, Barrow and Smalltown.
One resident pointed out that Don’tins is a vital part of the local tourist industry, with many local people and businesses depending on it for work and that the loss of up to 4000 tourists a week during the season will have a significant impact on the local economy, bringing at least 900 new residents into the area will only add pressure on an already stretched infrastructure, housing, schools, transport, not to mention the doctors surgery which is already under investigation for its poor services.
However, Mr Cockshaw reassured residents that Chernobyl-by-Sea has a huge pot of blackmail cash, which can be used to provide some sweeteners to the villagers, perhaps in the form of a new footpath, to make up for the disruption and possible death of the tourism industry in the area.