Representation by Paul Taylor
- Date submitted
- 14 September 2020
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
In no particular order: i) I do not believe any argument that the development will benefit the local economy in either the short term or, especially, the long term. Indeed, I feel strongly that the project will damage the local economy by severely impacting the tourism industry that forms such a huge current and longterm sustainable part of the Suffolk economy. EDF's own figures suggest a 29% reduction in tourists to the area in light of Sizewell C - the reality is likely to be much more - and the local economy is estimated to lose up to £40m per year and at least 400 jobs. ii) EDF's proposed road-led transport 'solutions' do not come close to mitigating local concerns. iii) The chosen location of Sizewell C is misjudged as it is projected to be a major area of coastal erosion. EDF's survey of this does not expand far enough along the coat (eg. to the Alde & Or area). iv) The model that is proposed for Sizewell C has repeatedly failed to operate as planned, with the most obvious example being at Flamenville. In the UK itself we can see how far over-budget and over-time the Hinkley project is, so why should we believe that Sizewell C will be any different? v) EDF simply cannot afford to build Sizewell C as it is in such severe financial difficulty through the mismanagement of previous and current projects. Why is our government allowing the British tax payer to pay (along with Chinese investors - which is a whole other story!) and why is it supporting a company that has a proven - and repeated - record of failure in projects similar to Sizewell C. vi) A major long term concern is the provision for nuclear waste. In short, there is no plan for this insolvable problem (beyond burying it as deep as possible and hoping that the materials used will be sufficient to contain the waste!) and I fear that future generations will judge us very harshly if we sanction a project that deliberately creates such cripplingly lethal waste that has very real potential for future environmental catastrophe. vii) And while talking of legacy, surely to support this project is to laugh in the face of any genuine concept of ‘Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ as our own nationally and internationally acclaimed AONBs will be decimated for this and future generations. While I am not a member of any particular body, I do support the representations made on this topic by the Stop Sizewell C campaign, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, RSPB and other concerned groups.