Kelly Anderson, Community Engagement Manager for the South Copeland GDF Partnership sits on the Partnership to represent the developer, Nuclear Waste Services (NWS), which is investigating potential GDF sites across the UK – and is encouraging people to ask questions and find out more.
She said: “Although I represent the views of the developer on the Community Partnership, my role is twofold. I am also here to listen to the views of Partnership members and the wider community and feed them back to the developer. Without representation from the developer on the Partnership, it would be difficult for us to understand local concerns and it would be more difficult for Partnership members to get community members the information that they need.
Kelly Anderson, Community Engagement Manager at South Copeland GDF Community Partnership
“In terms of looking ahead and continuing the conversation with the local community, we want to help people access the information that they want in a way that suits them, and the information that the Partnership received following the baseline survey earlier this year will help them to do that.
“The Community Partnership is planning to develop a forward plan of events where the community can come along and share their views or get more information. The last events that the Partnership held in Millom and Haverigg welcomed 200 people over the 4 days, but we know we need to make it easier for people to get the information they are looking for, so we will also be looking to join existing events, meetings and groups so that people don’t have to go out of their way.
“The Partnership would be pleased to be invited along to your meeting or event to discuss and answer questions about all things GDF – just get in touch via the contact details at the bottom of this newsletter.
“If public events aren’t your thing, there are a number of other ways you can find out more and share your views. We have a Contact Centre that you can email, phone or write to and ask your question or share your concerns. Since the launch of the Community Partnership, the Contact Centre has had hundreds of enquiries. Questions and comments have ranged from requests for the latest Community Partnership meeting minutes, to explaining how the baseline survey was representative and requesting that balanced information on a GDF is shared with the public.
“You can also follow the Community Partnership on social media – it has Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.
“If you are interested in what happens at the Community Partnership meetings, these meetings are now held in public and there is an opportunity for members of the public to ask questions.”