A PROTEST which saw a road blockaded has taken place outside Aberthaw power station.

Campaigners from the Reclaim the Power group, who were protesting against local air pollution and climate change, blocked a private road in front of the power station.

Today (Monday, December 12) saw activists form a protest with tripods, a giant ashtray and banners, which read "fossil fuels - time to quit" and "climate change has a death toll".

The protest comes at a time when the UK government is holding its consultation on the planned phase-out of unabated coal-fired stations by 2025, which campaigners argue is far too slow a timeline to meet climate change goals.

Sarah Joliffe, who is a member of the campaign group Reclaim the Power, said: "Exactly a year on from the historic climate agreement in Paris, and the UK government is still undermining its own commitments by subsidising fossil fuels instead of keeping them in the ground.

"Climate change touches all of us – whether it’s the effect on our farmers, flooding in our cities or the insurance on our homes.

"We need decisive action to shut down these dirty power stations and invest in clean, secure energy systems that benefit us all.

"Anything less is a failure from our government to act in the best interest of the country. Please consider this blockade our submission to your consultation."

Grace Wild, also from Reclaim the Power, said: "These power stations need to be closed, and resources put into developing the growing renewables economy in the area."

Richard Little, who is station manager at Aberthaw, said that the station operates within a strict environmental permit and has invested hundreds of millions of pounds to reduce the station's environmental impact.

He said: "These investments include the installation of flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) to reduce SO2 emissions, equipment to enable the safe combustion of biomass  and the re-engineering of the station’s steam turbines to improve significantly the plant’s operational efficiency.

"To improve the station’s nitrogen oxide (NOx) performance new boiler technology has recently been fitted to one of its units and this has significantly reduced emissions.

"The station teams are also committed to modifying the plant to enable it to accept a more diverse range of international coal, which will further reduce emissions; this latest project will enable all of the station’s units to reduce NOx emissions by an additional 30 per cent.

"We believe that the station has an important role to play to support security of supply until the mid 2020s and can work together  to support the intermittent nature of renewable energy generation  to transition to a lower carbon energy system in the UK."