Representation by Susan Bridges (Susan Bridges)
- Date submitted
- 30 September 2020
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I have been coming to Orford and this part of the Suffolk Coasts and Heaths AONB since 1983 and now live here. I wish to raise the following concerns about Sizewell C. 1. Site Selection • I believe it is the wrong project in the wrong place • The site is at an unpredictable risk from climate change, sea level rise and flooding • Potential impact on and from coastal processes • Adverse impact on adjacent internationally designated sites of ecological importance and sites of amenity, cultural heritage and landscape value • Eight other uncoordinated energy projects planned for the locality 2. Community, Economic and social impacts • Impacts on local communities - severance, traffic, significant increases in noise, light pollution and disruption. • 6,000 workers will come and live in the area, 2,400 in a Worker campus in a location that I oppose. • Tourism may lose up to £40m a year and 400 jobs. • Pressure on local housing • EDF expects local people to fill 90% of lower-skilled, lower-paid roles • Negative impacts on local businesses • Pressure on health, social and emergency services, impacts on vulnerable people. 3. Transport • Road based transport plan not sustainable; enormous adverse impact on local communities and the visitor economy • Delay in the construction of new road infrastructure means villages would endure 2-3 years of increased traffic • New roads would sever communities, damage rural footpaths and divide farmland. • Rat-running and disruption not adequately considered – existing roads not built for predicted weight and volume • Alternative relief road routes with legacy value not adequately assessed 4. Environment and Landscape • Flooding • Unclear effect on Minsmere Sluice • Pollution from light, noise and traffic • Dust management for spoil heaps and stockpiles inadequate • Impact of the proposed borrow pits and landfill not fully addressed. • Irreparable harm to Minsmere - a destination of international importance and significance. Impacts on Marsh Harriers threaten integrity of Special Protection Area • Uncertainty re drainage and supply of 3 million litres of potable water for the construction period and beyond. • Abstraction of water compounds risks to the environment and to protected species. • Flood risk due to the loss of flood storage from the development site • Catastrophic impact on AONB and landscape character because of locality, design and scale. Loss of artistic associations with writers, poets (Crabbe), artists (Tuner) musicians (Britten) stiil perceptible in AONB and Heritage Coast • Impossible to compensate for landscape and ecological damage • Won’t offset CO2 from construction for at least 6 years. 5. Marine and Coastal processes • Ecological and flood risk impacts on coastal processes from hard coastal defence feature HCDF. No complete design of HCDF available • Rates of erosion and recession episodic and unpredictable • Impacts of Beach Landing Facility on coastal processes • Impacts on marine ecology 6. Application • Wording of Explanatory Memorandum and Planning Statement. • Inadequate Heritage and Visual Impact Assessments I wish to endorse the Relevant Representation submitted by Stop Sizewell C – Suffolk Preservation Society , RSPB, etc. I wish to state that I consider the Sizewell C application to be totally unsuitable for a digital examination process.