A popular Pontins holiday resort is to close for three years and be converted into a village to house 900 nuclear power plant workers. Brean Sands will be used to house hundreds of workers from Hinkley Point C nuclear power station.
The operator of Hinkley Point, EDF Energy, applied to Sedgemoor District Council to change the use of the site for staff working on the power plant. The site will be used for Hinkley Point for three years before it reverts back to its original use.
The existing facility is made up of 600 chalets , a leisure complex, swimming pool, shop, outdoor facilities including play areas, car parking and green areas, reports SomersetLive.
Improvements being carried out to the site include modernising the existing chalets and installing WiFi. A spokesman for EDF said: “EDF has taken over the site for three years in order to house 900 Hinkley Point workers and undertake a multi-million pound refit of the park to ensure the accommodation is of a high standard for workers.
"After the three years, the park will revert back to tourism use.The phased approach to the refurbishment is going well and we expect to complete later this year.
"There are around 50 Hinkley Point C workers staying at the site currently and we expect that to rise to 900 by the end of the year. We expect to finish the refurb later this year.
“We expect a total capacity of around 900 workers at the Pontins site. "The renovations represent a £multi-million upgrade to the site which will provide a long-lasting benefit to tourism in the area.
“Hinkley Point C has an on-site accommodation campus that houses 510 workers, as well as another campus in nearby Bridgwater that caters for an additional 986 people.” The Pontins site, visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists each year, is around 15 miles from the Hinkley C site and owned by Britannia Hotels.
Hinkley Point C is expected to start operation in June 2027 - a year later than originally planned. In the past the holiday complex had come under fire from guests who complained about dirty and outdated chalets.
