It is one of the biggest civil engineering projects ever envisaged for the South West – and would trigger economic benefits that could sustain hundreds of jobs for years to come.

It sounds like the best news the region has had for a long time – and given that a stream of austerity announcements emerging from Whitehall sound gloomier by the day, the project in prospect is one we must surely grasp with both hands.

But this is a nuclear project. And that necessarily means a whole catalogue of issues will need to be addressed by politicians, business leaders and whole communities.

As we report today, around £100 million a year could be pumped into the South West economy during the construction of a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point on the Somerset coast.

Furthermore, according to independent assessment, the region could reap £40 million annually and sustain 900 jobs throughout its 60-year lifespan. The report, written by the Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development, makes compelling reading. It's contention that the development would contribute to longer term economic stability in the area is welcome.

That it would stimulate economic diversification away from declining sectors, offering high quality employment and opportunities for local businesses, would address one of the region's most worrying issues. And it seems clear that business opportunities for South West companies would not be limited solely to those in engineering.

But, however tempting the economic benefits may be, we must be wary of charging headlong into this project as a quick-fix cure for the blight visited upon us by this recession. We must not lose sight of the big picture in the rush to usher in a new age of prosperity.

So the region must today begin a nuclear debate that will produce a clear understanding of Hinkley's benefit and compromise. Otherwise we will fail a generation who currently survey an economic landscape devoid of opportunity.