Not before time but with no fanfare by either the media, the charities themselves or Nuclear Waste Services
PRESS RELEASE sent to local and national media:
Carlisle, Cumbria, 08 July 2026— Lakes Against Nuclear Dump (LAND) a Radiation Free Lakeland (RaFL) campaign are pleased to announce that Friends of the Lake District (FoLD) and Sustainable Duddon have withdrawn from the South Copeland Community Partnership (SCCP). The Partnerships of South and Mid-Copeland (Millom and Gosforth areas) are led by Nuclear Waste Services, the developer of the proposed UK Geological Disposal Facility for High Level Nuclear Wastes. Friends of the Lake District formally left the Partnership with Nuclear Waste Services on 17th March 2026, a year after the April 2025 publication of a damning review into the beleaguered and “dysfunctional” Partnership.
The presence of both environmental groups on the SCCP was publicised by Nuclear Waste Services as giving a voice to the environment, and to local people concerned about the negative environmental effects of the geological disposal facility (GDF) on the fragile ecology of the West Coast of the Lake District.
FoLD formerly claimed that it provided a representative to the SCCP so that it could attempt to positively influence proceedings which might affect the landscape around the massive 50km3 sub-sea nuclear dump and onshore mine-works. However, the charity’s representative was also Chair of the Communications & Engagement subgroup.
As far back as February 2023, public complaints recorded in SCCP meeting minutes included that negative impacts were never discussed at facilitation events, which suggests that those events are a strategy to spread NWS’ messaging more widely, rather than to listen to the public voice.
When queried last October about Friends of the Lake District’s association with NWS’ plans for a nuclear dump—given the many environmental concerns—Lorayne Wall, Head of Planning and Policy said: “Our original understanding of the SCCP was that it was a vehicleto facilitate community involvement in the decision-making process in relation to the GDF, and that it would be an opportunity to challenge and influence the proposal on the basis of the impacts it would have. However, we have, over time, become concerned about the direction and purpose of the group and are currently reconsidering our involvement.”
She continued: “In no way, shape, or form, has our involvement been with the purpose of either ‘helping to deliver’ the GDF, or persuading anyone to accept or support it.”
Marianne Birkby of LAND said: “Presumably, the environmental groups of FoLD andSustainable Duddon have realised that, far from giving a voice to the environment, the Partnership is a vehicle for silencing voices critical of the UK’s biggest-ever industrial infrastructure development. We’re delighted that Friends of the Lake District and Sustainable Duddon are now free to strongly oppose the plans for Geological Disposal of High-Level Nuclear Wastes under the Lake District coast. We would be happy to provide both charities with information on GDF plans directly from independent scientists and geologists—the more sober, rational voices are heard in this fight for everything we hold dear, the better.”
Friends of the Lake District formally left the Partnership on 17th March 2026 while Sustainable Duddon ended their representation in September 2025.
ENDS
contacts supplied
NOTES:
Friends of the Lake District Leave South Copeland GDF Community
Partnership – Email from NWS to LAND sent 6th July 2026
OFFICIAL
Dear Marianne
Thank you for contacting us on 5 July 2026 regarding the Friends of the Lake District. This group left
the South Copeland GDF Community Partnership on 17 March 2026.
For more information on Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) please visit our website at:
Kind regards
Lucy
NWS Helpdesk
Friends of the Lake District “exists to protect Cumbria’s landscapes – for nature, for people, for ever.”
Sustainable Duddon is a charitable incorporated organisation working to protect and
enhance the natural environment of the Duddon catchment and estuary.
“Dysfunctional” Review of South Copeland Community Partnership – April 2025
South Copeland GDF Community Partnership Newsletter 2023 (extract)
Correspondence with Friends of the Lake District calling for the charity to withdraw from the Partnership September 2025 – link below
With Friends Like These…
·
20 SEPTEMBER 2025
This afternoon Cumbria’s most influential and most affluent landscape charity has its Annual General Meeting at the North Lakes Hotel, Penrith.
_
Lakes Against Nuclear Dump 
Leave a comment