THE leader of the Green Party on Somerset Council has attacked the prime minister following his recent comments on Hinkley Point C.

EDF Energy has courted controversy over plans to create new saltmarshes in the Severn estuary to offset the new power station’s environmental impact.

In an article for The Mail Online, prime minister Sir Keir Starmer lambasted efforts to block major infrastructure projects, singling out opposition to the acoustic fish deterrent which EDF had originally proposed for Hinkley Point C.

These comments have drawn the ire of Councillor Martin Dimery, who warned Mr Starmer that his stance would lose him support across the South West.

Mr Starmer’s comments came as the government announced reforms to the judicial review system, restricting the grounds on which such reviews could be lodged to “stop blockers getting in the way” of infrastructure projects.

He said in his article: “There are countless examples of nimbys and zealots gumming up the legal system often for their own ideological blind spots to stop the government building the infrastructure the country needs.

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“They know they have no chance of winning, they just want to drag it out in hopes that government or industry give up. They want to win for themselves, not for the country.

“It is fear of challenge which leads to the ridiculous spectacle of the £100m bat tunnel for HS2 or the proposal to install an ‘acoustic fish deterrent’ – 288 underwater speakers designed to scare fish away from Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. I wish I was joking.”

Mr Dimery (Frome West) chairs Somerset Council’s climate and place scrutiny committee – which has overseen the council’s response to the ongoing phosphates crisis which is holding up development.

He also stood unsuccessfully for the Greens at a 2023 by-election (for the Somerton and Frome constituency) and at the 2024 general election (for the new Glastonbury and Somerton seat).

In an open letter to Mr Starmer, he said: “I wish I was joking when I point out that the sonar device due to be installed at Hinkley Point C was agreed from the outset to avoid the mass carnage of fish being sucked into the reactor’s mechanism, thus destroying huge quantities of the Bristol Channel’s fish stock.

“Fish remnants can also cause blockage and mechanical failure in nuclear power plants.

“Last year, EDF applied to Somerset Council to scrap the sonar device in an attempt to cut construction costs.

“As chairman of the climate and place scrutiny committee, I refused to sign off this appalling attempt to disregard the natural environment and the region’s fishing industry for the sake of EDF’s profits.

“Why should UK environmental protection be sacrificed for the profit of the French nationalised electricity industry?”

Reports recently resurfaced in the national press that Mr Starmer stated “I hate tree-huggers” at a shadow cabinet meeting in July 2023, at which current net zero secretary Ed Miliband MP unveiled new energy policies.

Mr Starmer denied using this phrase, telling BBC correspondent Laura Kuennsberg that his comments about green energy had been taken out of context.