Charities given months to leave building amid nuclear takeover
Charities and businesses have been told they will have to find a new home as their current building is being redeveloped.The Science and Technology Park in Berkeley is to be transformed into a small modular reactor for nuclear technology, owners Chiltern Vital Group (CVG) have announced.Charities such as Cotswold Community Men's Shed and PhysioNet said they are "disappointed" by the decision.CVG said they have given organisations six months to vacate because "several of the existing buildings are unsafe and need to be demolished".
Cotswold Men's Shed has been using the building for six years and its members said they do a lot of work for the community, including repairing public benches and noticeboards.The group is also sent broken prosthetic limbs, which they repair and then send to African countries through charity Stand."That makes a real difference to families out there" said Brett Jones, one of the founders of the group.
Another member, Iain Shaw, experienced severe PTSD after leaving the armed forces."I was at my absolute lowest ebb and this place has saved my life from a mental health point of view," Mr Shaw said."That sounds dramatic but it's true, I was suicidal. I've got together with these men who have become my friends."The group take people from all ages, with their oldest member being 92 years old. Brett Jones, who's an ex-miner, said the likelihood of very a new base was "quite slim"."I'm really upset that we had to move knowing how many guys are going to be affected by it," he added.
PhysioNet takes broken medical equipment such as wheelchairs and crutches, fixes them up and sends them all over the world to other countries. The group do not pay rent and recognised they have been extremely fortunate to operate there but described the announcement as a "huge disruption".
'A reimagining'
Chiltern Vital Group, who bought the site for £6.5m last year plan to establish a low-carbon energy 'super cluster'.The idea is to attract companies developing technology to help create so-called small modular reactors which are much cheaper and quicker then getting large nuclear power stations online.Gerry Hughes, project director, said: "Plans to establish a low-carbon energy 'super cluster' at Berkeley are progressing and to do it they need to reimagining the site."
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