Row over council’s withdrawal from anti-nuclear group

Nicholas Thomas, Local democracy reporter

An anti-nuclear partnerships officer has blasted a Welsh council over comments made when it withdrew from the group.

Richard Outram, the secretary of Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NLFAs), alleged “a series of false statements” were made at a November meeting to debate Caerphilly County Borough Council’s membership.

A majority of councillors voted to withdraw from the NFLAs after claims were made that the partnership “doesn’t exist” or “doesn’t even meet”.

In what was his first meeting as the authority’s leader, Cllr Jamie Pritchard said at the time he understood the organisation “hasn’t met or doesn’t meet very regularly”.

Mr Outram has claimed comments made during the meeting “unjustly impugn the reputation” of the NFLAs – a partnership describing itself as “the voice for local authorities opposed to civil nuclear power and in favour of renewables”, which Caerphilly joined in 1996.

These claims painted a picture “that the NFLAs does not meet, does not meet regularly, does not seek input from members, or even does not exist”, he alleged.

While accepting it was the right of councillors to choose which outside groups the authority belongs to, he said the NFLAs was “concerned that some elected members may have chosen to vote to withdraw after being influenced by these false statements”.

Mr Outram made his claims in a letter sent to Cllr Pritchard; the local authority’s opposition group leader, Cllr Charlotte Bishop; monitoring officer Robert Tranter; and Cllr Colin Gordon, the authority’s presiding member who chaired the November meeting.

Caerphilly’s representative on the steering group was the late Cllr Christine Forehead, who passed away on November 18.

In his letter, Mr Outram extended the NFLAs’ condolences to Cllr Forehead’s family and colleagues.

A spokesperson for the council later called it “disappointing” the allegations were made in the wake of her death, however.

The council spokesperson added the authority is “considering the points raised in the letter from the NFLAs, and we will respond in due course”.

In his challenge to the claims made during the council meeting, Mr Outram said NFLAs had held annual general meetings and several steering committee meetings each year since he took up the post in November 2021.

“All these meetings are documented and minuted”, he said, adding the NFLAs also issues media releases and specialist briefings, and attends “various forums with regulators, government ministers and senior civil servants, and the nuclear industry”.

He said “all this material can be easily found on our website”.

At the November meeting, a councillor challenged some of the claims being made about the NFLAs’ activity.

“Someone has said that this organisation doesn’t meet, but you only need to look at their website to see that they’re active and producing regular newsletters, updates and policy papers,” Cllr Brenda Miles told the meeting.

Cllr Colin Mann said Mr Outram’s subsequent letter “confirms what I suspected all along, that the proposal was founded on a false premise”.

In an email to the NFLAs secretary, the councillor thanked him for “laying out the actual facts surrounding this issue, totally contradicting the fairy stories we heard on the night”.

Cllr Bishop, meanwhile, has called for the withdrawal from the NFLAs to be reviewed “in light of the new and detailed information brought forward”.

“Our residents deserve better than decisions built on fiction,” she added.