THE first nuclear power station to be built in the UK for 30 years has hit another delay on its long route to construction.

EDF Energy, the French energy company behind the Hinkley Point C nuclear project, has admitted it will not meet the March 2015 deadline for the final investment decision on the £16billion project.

The setback came as it was announced that EDF’s UK profits were down by 25% due to closures last year at two of its stations – in Hartlepool and Morecambe – for boiler inspections.

EDF said “progress is being made” and a final investment decision is “possible in the next few months”.

A spokesman said: “EDF and the UK Government are working hard to finalise all agreements on Hinkley Point C and are making significant progress in all areas with the shared objective of finalising documents in the coming weeks.

“This will allow a final investment decision to be possible in the next few months.

“EDF is also making progress in discussions with future investment partners in the project.

“In particular, progress is being made with Chinese partners on all aspects of their nuclear industrial co-operation in the UK – part of the wider partnership between EDF and Chinese companies.”

The deadline for securing the deal with financial backers for Hinkley C had already been pushed back from the original one of the middle of 2014.

The project is also facing a legal challenge by Austria in the European courts.

Anthony Trollope-Bellew, West Somerset councillor and a member of the Somerset Nuclear Energy Group, said: “It’s really unhelpful to keep dragging the decision on and we would much rather they made a decision, but there’s nothing we can do about it and we just have to get on with it.”

A county council spokesman said: “We’re working with EDF and our partners to ensure we do all we can to maximise the opportunities the construction of Hinkley Point C will bring to the county.

“We’ll continue to press Government and EDF to resolve the outstanding matters as quickly as possible.”