A NORTH-East town will be offered tens of millions of pounds in return for residents accepting a nuclear power station on their doorstep.

Hartlepool is among eight sites earmarked for new reactors that are now in line for “community benefits” promised by the Government.

The package will offer up to £1,000 for every megawatt hour of electricity generated for 40 years, energy minister Michael Fallon announced.

Mr Fallon said: “New nuclear will have a central role to play in our energy strategy, providing heat and light to homes across the country.

“It is absolutely essential that we recognise the contributions of those communities that host major new energy projects.

“This package is in the interests of local people, who will manage it to ensure long-term meaningful benefit to the community.”

But Dr Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace UK, attacked the decision to require taxpayers – rather than developers – to fund the payments to communities.

He said: “Whilst wind farms and even shale gas developers have to pay community benefits, only nuclear stations will get a fat taxpayer subsidy to fund them.”

However, there is no guarantee that Hartlepool’s nuclear plant will be replaced, with a decision not due for at least a decade.

Instead, EDF Energy, the company which owns and operates it, plans a £50m upgrade and will apply to keep it open until 2026 - seven years longer than originally planned.

Hartlepool power station - which is estimated to inject £30m a year into the local economy - employs 535 full-time staff, as well as 150 contract workers.

The Government has been accused of rigging the energy market in favour of nuclear power, through guaranteed contracts that appear to find a way around a ban on state subsidies.