A new training facility at the Cannington Centre is one more step towards turning Sedgemoor and West Somerset into the country’s nuclear hub, says the area’s Conservative MP Ian Liddell-Grainger.
The centre represents a huge investment by French energy company EdF, which is poised within weeks to announce a start on the building of Hinkley Point C.
And it has been established in close co-operation with Bridgwater College, which merged with the former Cannington Agricultural College 11 years ago.
The Cannington centre already offers a wide range of courses in agriculture and countryside management, but will now take on the additional role of training up Britain’s next generation of nuclear technicians and engineers.
The new training suite will be officially opened on Thursday by Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom and, said Mr Liddell-Grainger, would make a huge contribution to employment prospects and the general prosperity of the immediate area.
“Cannington College maintained a reputation as an outstanding centre of excellence for teaching farming skills for more than 80 years – and I have not the least shadow of doubt that that tradition of excellence will be maintained in the new unit,” he said.
“It’s a great tribute to EdF that it has been prepared to sink a considerable investment in this area, but equally that investment represents a great vote of confidence in the management at Bridgwater College.
“Having a top-flight nuclear training facility here is really going to put us on the international map and open the door to plenty of well-paid and rewarding jobs for young people from the area.”