Gloucestershire county criticised after losing nuclear fusion plant bid

The Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production plant is a prototype nuclear fusion plant

A county council has been branded an "omnishambles" by its opposition, after missing out on developing a prototype nuclear fusion plant.

Gloucestershire's bid was among five sites shortlisted for the plant, but the government picked Nottinghamshire.

The government had pledged more than £220m for the STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) programme.

The leader of the Conservative council called the criticism from the Liberal Democrats' group "outrageous".

The Western Gateway Partnership's bid to bring the plant to Severn Edge received support from the South West region, industry, some research universities and local community, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

After the contract went to Nottinghamshire, Lib Dem group leader Ben Evans said: "This Conservative administration really is turning into an omnishambles. This failure is bad news for Gloucestershire but we all expected it."

"There is absolutely no surprise this was unsuccessful. Our local buses are grinding to a standstill on the back of unsuccessful Tory bids to improve the network."

But council leader Mark Hawthorne said Conservative action was what Gloucestershire needed, "not Lib Dem words".   

He said getting down to the last five for the bid "demonstrates how ambitious we are and how Conservatives nationally and locally are investing in Gloucestershire".

Mr Hawthorne pointed at other successful projects and added last year more than £50m levelling up money was secured for the county.

The LDRS heard the planning process has been of some benefit to the Oldbury and Berkeley sites.

The UK Atomic Energy Authority said: "The site has many attractive features and would likely be an outstanding candidate for a wide range of developments." It added the decision was "testimony to the highly competitive nature of the process".