Back to list The Sizewell C Project

Representation by Audrey West

Date submitted
21 September 2020
Submitted by
Members of the public/businesses
  1. The site is situated on a receding coast and will become an island when sea levels inevitably rise. Dangerous radioactive waste from the two new reactors will be stored on site along with that from Sizewell B posing a risk for hundreds of years. 2. The site is far too small for the proposed two reactors and its ancillary buildings. An AONB and a SSSI will be detrimentally effected as land from both of these designated sites will be taken for the build. Historic Coronation Wood will be clear felled and built over. 3. Valuable farmland will be concreted over in the main site along with new roads and roundabouts. A huge number of trees and swathes of wildlife rich habitat will be sacrificed. There will be unacceptable impact on the flora and fauna of this special area that cannot be mitigated or compensated for. The proposed new fen meadows that have been offered to replace marsh harrier habitat are many miles from Sizewell and are not within or adjacent to national or international habitat designations. They will therefore have no protection. 4. We will suffer the loss of valuable footpaths and bridleways which have been used for hundreds of years and this will effect locals and visitors alike. 5. The planned construction will have an impact on water levels on the SSSI, AONB and adjacent RSPB Minsmere. Pollution will enter sensative, pristine water courses causing loss of plants, animals, fish and invertebrates. The established ecosystem of the area will be damaged. 6. Many tons of fish, fry, crustaceans, fish eggs and larvae will be killed each year by being sucked into the cooling systems of the plant from the sea. Sizewell B is already doing this. 7. Along with the noise, light, dust and pollution from the construction site there will be an increase in all of these from the huge amount of extra traffic on local roads in the form of cars, vans, buses and up to 1000 HGVs for the length of the build. It is proposed that workers will travel to the site and park and rides for as much as 90 minutes thus clogging our vital routes and causing polluting traffic jams. 8. The huge number of workers to be imported into the area, estimated to be 6000+, will swamp Leiston and the surrounding areas. The caravan and campus style accommodation, housing mostly young men, will cause social problems. Local residents and communities will suffer a reduced quality of life by being disturbed also by traffic resulting from the work shift patterns. There will be much pressure on the NHS and emergency services. 9. We have a thriving tourist industry on this Heritage Coast which is worth many millions of pounds a year and employs thousands of local people. This would be destroyed when we are being overwhelmed by traffic, light, noise, pollution and the visual impact along the coast. Visitors will seek more tranquil unspoilt areas to stay well away from the chaos and confusion.