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Stakeholder Survey: RESULTS

The key headlines from the 2018 GDFWatch Stakeholder Survey are:

• 83% of respondents are concerned that Ministers, despite the evidence before them, are about to recreate the same mistake of previous failed GDF siting processes – the local authority ‘veto’
• Only 18% of stakeholders have any confidence the siting process will re-start next year (2019)
• 46.5% of respondents said lack of Ministerial/political commitment was the main risk to progressing the siting process
• Just one third of respondents are confident that RWM will be ready to successfully relaunch the siting process and engage with communities effectively
• 84% of users find the GDFWatch newsletter very or somewhat helpful.

The backdrop of Brexit tempers the optimism of most opinion polls about any aspect of public policy and government at the moment, and despite these headline findings there are some real positives in the survey results.  For more detail please click on each of the links below.

Local Authority ‘veto’

A more detailed analysis of the survey findings reveals the sheer scale (98%) of opposition to making local authorities responsible for GDF siting decisions – even local authorities don’t believe it’s the right way forward!

RWM Readiness

Scepticism might be expected amongst critics and those having little contact with RWM, but concern is also widespread across those who work closely with RWM about their ability to engage effectively with communities once the siting process relaunches — however, there are important ‘anomalous’ survey findings, which signpost a potentially productive way forward for RWM.

GDFWatch: User feedback

The phenomenally positive feedback is both gratifying and humbling. Users have offered their thoughts on what GDFWatch should do more or less of in the future, and we will be returning to these reader ideas later in the summer.

Overview

The number of respondents to this survey is too small to make most answers ‘statistically significant’. But given the profile of respondents, the survey does provide a powerful indicator of sentiment amongst those closest to the GDF process.

GDFWatch followers may be small in number but are big in influence. They span the most GDF-informed and interested leaders across local government, regulators, nuclear industry, NGOs, academia, trades unions, business and civil society. Success or failure of the GDF siting process will be shaped by this audience’s perception of the Government’s policy decisions and RWM’s implementation actions.

Almost 50 (30-50%) of the 100-150 active UK-based GDFWatch followers responded to the survey – that is an exceptional and significant response rate. Thank you to everyone. This level of response expresses and underlines the passion and commitment of everyone involved in the GDF process.

Click here for a summary of the responses to the survey.