Representation by Nicholas Burfield
- Date submitted
- 23 September 2020
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
In response to the 27 May 2020 application by EDF to the Planning Inspectorate, I urge you not to support the demand for a Development Consent Order (DCO) to build Sizewell C. It is surely unrealistic to pretend that any meaningful consultation could have taken place until the coronavirus restrictions were entirely ended. Under the current conditions for example public displays and meetings and thus any serious debate and consideration of the proposals will have been severely compromised. It is the responsibility of all tiers of government to ensure that major project proposals are properly and openly scrutinised and at present that has been impossible. Given the scale of the proposal for Sizewell C it was crucial that any DCO process should not have been in any way compromised, and it has been. Furthermore the consultations held by EDF over the past 8 years have provided very little in the way of detailed information, especially on environmental, economic and community impacts, making it absolutely essential that the current and any future processes and considerations are and will be exacting and robust. In any case the DCO application, the current proposal by EDF to develop Sizewell C is unwelcome. Were it to proceed the project would: • Desecrate the Suffolk Coast and physically divide the remainder of the AONB; • Have a hugely negative impact on internationally-protected habitats including RSPB Minsmere (designated SSSI, SPA, SAC, Ramsar), the Sizewell Belts and Dunwich Heath; • Cause immense harm to significant populations of rare birds, animals and plants (for example marsh harrier, bittern, bearded tit, otter); • Drastically reduce our natural capital; • Permanently damage Suffolk’s very significant and thriving tourism sector; • Hollow out and destroy, for limited and short term benefits, any local businesses unable to pay competitive wages; • Reduce and deflect other business stability and investment otherwise attracted to remain or locate in the area for the high quality of life; • Completely overload the A12 and the local road system with catastrophic environmental, social and economic consequences; • Position new nuclear operational capacity and the long-term storage of waste on an unstable and insecure site; • Divert public and private investment to support a technology and industry that is failing elsewhere and is in decline; • Fail to deliver significantly on local jobs, despite EDF's claims; • Undermine the Government’s policies to level up the UK economy; and • Almost certainly rely on financial support from Government, or the introduction of a Regulated Asset Base funding model, in straightened economic times. I urge you to reject the application and I wholeheartedly endorse the Relevant Representation from Stop Sizewell C.