Representation by New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) (New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP))
- Date submitted
- 29 September 2020
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
New Anglia LEP would like to highlight our support for Sizewell C and the opportunity it offers to tackle the climate emergency and progress to ‘Net Zero’ while boosting the economy in Suffolk and throughout East Anglia. We are interested in the positive impact on local business growth and investment, supply chains, local employment, skills and education, infrastructure and impact on key sectors such as tourism. The East of England and especially Suffolk is in a position to host a necessary major infrastructure project which will generate huge local employment, education and skills opportunities as well as delivering welcome infrastructure improvements and the potential for wider energy and environmental benefits such as the production of hydrogen. We have seen the employment created at Hinkley Point C in Somerset and note that nearly half of the jobs have been taken by local people. Over 650 apprentices have worked on the site. Contracts with businesses in the region have reached £1.7bn. We should be proud that the value of contracts with East of England businesses for the Hinkley Point C project is now nearly £1bn. That offers a great foundation for these regional firms if Sizewell C starts soon. We must take this opportunity for the benefit of our region’s young people. They deserve the same opportunities at Sizewell C, which will bring at least 1,500 apprenticeships and thousands of jobs to the area during an employment crisis. We support Sizewell C because we want to help Suffolk’s young people stay and develop their skills in the county so they can live, work and bring up their families in an area with a bright future.