A SOUTH Lakeland-based campaign group is challenging the Bishop of Carlisle to abandon his support for nuclear power.

Radiation Free Lakeland (RFL) will make its demand today as members lay three crosses outside Carlisle Cathedral to mark the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. They will also deliver a letter to Bishop James Newcome urging him to reconsider his position on new-build nuclear power.

In the letter, leading RFL member Marianne Birkby tells the bishop: “We feel that the diocese could do much more to seriously take on board legitimate concerns about nuclear power.”

The letter adds: “Given the ongoing Chernobyl catastrophe and since your enthronement, now Fukushima, will the Diocese of Carlisle withdraw its support for new build and geological disposal?”