I WAS shocked to read the first sentence of the report on the Prime Minister's visit to Plymouth (Saturday) .

It read that Plymouth should have "a great future" and the city will not be just a graveyard for nuclear submarines, says the Prime Minister.

The results of the public consultation over the decommissioning of nuclear submarines between Whitehall and the Ministry of Defence will not have even be gathered fully until later this month. As a resident of this area, I am so concerned over this issue that I have emailed 40 Plymouth city councillors.

I am surprised that on such an important matter, only a handful replied – and of those most seemingly didn't know if they had a say in the matter. I therefore took the issue before the MoD, wrote to my MP, wrote to the Prime Minister and Defence Secretary Philip Hammond.

Part of my submission to them read:

"I note that former Prime Minister Gordon Brown is now campaigning for residents who cannot sell their homes in Dalgety Bay, Scotland, where radioactive waste was cut up after World War Two.

For generations to come this is an awful burden to bear, and I believe the health and beauty of the city of Plymouth far outweighs any amount of immediate financial benefit.

Please consider the mothers who have wept over seeing our children go through cancer. My husband and I worked long and hard to establish our home, family and business in Plymouth. From all I have read of the MoD's dealings with the issues of radioactive waste at Dalgety Bay, I have no confidence that they have shown competence to handle such dangerous material with the public interest in mind."

The scale of the radioactive contamination has also led to calls by former PM Gordon Brown for the MoD to clean up the area.

KERRY COLE

Via email