Chepstow people should be better informed of what action authorities will take in the event of an accident at the Oldbury nuclear power station, say town councillors.

Chepstow town council is calling for an urgent meeting with emergency planning experts and health chiefs.

Town councillors also want to know how the police would cope if the town had to be evacuated or people tried to leave in large numbers, especially in light of the gridlock caused by an accident on the A48 in the summer.

Cllr Will Oliver, who represents the town council on the Oldbury community liaison council, said he did not want to be alarmist but public awareness of the issue needed to be raised.

He was particularly concerned that there was no stock of iodine tablets held locally. Non-radioactive iodine helps combat the concentration in the thyroid of radioactive iodine released in a nuclear incident.

He said: "In Lydney, councillors are well informed, stocks of safe iodine tablets are held locally and there are arrangements for distribution.

"In Chepstow, which is closer to Oldbury, the town council is not aware of any such arrangements.

"What would happen if someone were to knock on your door and said you had to take a tablet?

"Emergency planning should produce a guide telling people what they would do."

Cllr David Dovey said that at Avonmouth, where there is potential for a serious, non-nuclear accident, people were aware of the plans for dealing with an incident.

He added: "We need something similar here."

The Oldbury power station and Berkeley nuclear site are about 4.5 miles across the River Severn from Chepstow. Oldbury was opened in 1967 with an estimated 20 year lifespan.

Cllr Oliver also called for the Environment Agency to clarify its consultation on the future of Berkeley which is now a research and technology centre.

"The agency says it has had 3,000 responses but I would like to know who it consulted; this council saw nothing.

"What proportion of the responses were negative? If the people they consulted are all sitting in Middle England and have nothing to do with this area, then the consultation is nullified."