The Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband has announced that Dungeness is not to get a new nuclear power station. He told MPs this afternoon that the site, which has previously had two nuclear power stations, had been ruled out due to environmental concerns.

In the expected announcement, Dungeness was the only one of the 11 proposed sites that was not deemed suitable for future nuclear plants. Those given the green light are Bradwell in Essex, Sizewell in Suffolk, Braystones, Kirksanton and Sellafield in Cumbria, Hartlepool, Heysham in Lancashire, Hinkley Point in Somerset, Oldbury in Gloucestershire, and Wylfa in North Wales.

The news will disappoint many on the Marsh, with the power stations at Dungeness providing significant employment in the area. With today's news however energy production, and the jobs it brings, on the headland will end in 2018 when Dungeness B ceases production - Dungeness A ended power production in 2006.

Environment campaigners however welcomed the news having argued that the site was unsuitable for development given its proximity to protected wildlife habitats.

One of the groups who campaigned against the expansion was the RPSB. Sam Dawes, conservation manager for RSPB South East commented, "The RSPB submitted a detailed response to Government detailing why Dungeness is wholly unsuitable as a site for the construction of a new nuclear power station. We are very pleased that they have agreed with our environmental concerns and recognise the area's international importance for wildlife. Its vast shingle landscape has everything from bitterns to marsh harriers, from rare plants to tiny beetles found nowhere else in Britain. It is a place that really does justify the word 'unique', and that helps make it a special place for people too."