The promise from the vast Hinkley Point C power station has not been fulfilled for the amusement operators of nearby Brean Sands in Somerset, UK.
The operators are among the interviewees in a BBC online report about the benefit to the locality of the hundreds of workers on the construction project.
They were promised that when EDF took over the old Pontins Brean Sands’ 900 chalets to accommodate workers, the income from those workers would be a major benefit to the local community. It has not been so, says the report.
Two million pounds was spent on painting and redecorating the old Pontins chalets, which would be an all-year-round home to 900 workers. Many of those, it would said, would boost the local authority with their spend.
Local traders, however, remain to be convinced a year later and some are quoted at length about the benefit to the local community of replacing the old holidaymakers with the workers on Europe’s largest construction project.
Among them is arcade owner Charles Holland, who said: “They are here to work, not play. They keep themselves to themselves. We have lost trade. It has been a big thing for us losing the Pontins customers.”
Discover Brean’s Alan House said: “Generally speaking, they’re all either on shift or asleep.”
Local amusement venue owner Phil Booth of Brean Theme Park said that he is now targeting day-trippers. Losing the Pontins guests had "taken a chunk out of our earnings. We have added some new rides, upgraded the roller-coaster and we’ve changed our pricing structure.”
