Published: Saturday, 3rd October, 2009 10:11am

"We need to quiz nuclear bosses"

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A campaigner who has fought hard to bring nuclear issues out into the open and the public domain has defended the importance of quarterly monthly meetings with nuclear bosses.

Mrs Rita Holmes, a Fairlie community councillor, disagreed with a North Ayrshire Councillor who was seeking to try and limit the amount of time at the Site Stakeholder group meetings. Representatives from both Hunterston 'A' and 'B' stations attend the events as do representatives from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, and Hunterston Estate.

Cllr. Tom Barr said: "I have been coming to these meetings for the past two and a half years and in my opinion it should not be any longer than two hours. If anyone asks a question, they should accept the answer and that is it. They might not by happy, but then maybe they shouldn't have asked the question. I think meetings going on for three and half hours are unacceptable to the public, if you ask a question and get an answer, then that should be it."

However, Mrs Holmes said: "It is important that we meet face to face. A meeting which lasts three hours when we only meet four times a year? It is a really serious thing we are talking about here. Nobody is forcing people to be here. The people come from the community councils because they are interested in the power station and what is happening and we are here on behalf of the communities where we live."