Representation by Clive Gissing
- Date submitted
- 30 September 2020
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
This remote part of the Suffolk coast is completely inappropriate and impractical for building such a large Nuclear Power Station. This is obvious to many in Suffolk opposing the development - we’re not NIMBYs as the development not in people’s backyard, it’s in nature's. - This is an area of outstanding natural beauty, with development amidst many designated sites of international and national ecological importance, renowned for remoteness and habitat connectivity. - Here is RSPB Minsmere, a ‘flagship’ site, but the Sizewell C campus for 6,000 workers is planned right next door. - Another example of the huge threat to biodiversity is the new main access road for the entire nuclear site across Sizewell Marshes SSSI - a permanent human and motor vehicle presence brought here? Roadkill, water level issues and air, noise, light, and chemical/particle run off pollution brought to a SSSI, and a huge obstacle for habitat connectivity. Fragmentation of habitats is a main reason for plummeting wildlife numbers and extinction threats to many species; - Wildlife mitigation offered by EDF does not look promising in making up biodiversity loss. - Alderhurst Farm Habitat creation has been ruined by dog walkers, and other human intrusion, and also appears to lack proper management (Suffolk Coastal Friends of the Earth Newsletter September/October 2020). - Two other sites recently announced are close to residents of Benhall and Halesworth (and an Industrial Estate here) so may go the same way. Only 3 weeks work are going into these (EADT) and neither will enjoy habitat connectivity like land lost at Sizewell. Transport links to the project area are very poor. - No motorways in Suffolk and trunk roads runs out around Ipswich about 30 miles away. - Only small sections the A12 are duelled above Martlesham and the road leaves resources still 6 miles away. - East Suffolk Rail Line has single track sections and competes with Felixstowe container transportation and passenger routes around Ipswich. - Existing ports are too far away to offer any real assistance. - Lack of local workforce and accommodation. Sizewell is threatened with flooding in the future as sea levels rises and coasts erode - recent flood alerts have shown the Sizewell C site at risk. Cost and clean energy arguments for nuclear compared to wind/solar power continue to diminish, especially with advances in battery storage technology – how will this look by the time Sizewell C produces electricity? If the Government still feel justified in building new nuclear power stations, surely there’s better places. Places where heavy industries have up and gone (e.g. coal and steel) leaving landscapes already scarred and local communities desperate for investment and jobs. Places close to decent transport links and ready supply of raw materials and workers needed for such a project. Places on a stable coastline where nuclear power stations and spent fuel storage won’t be paddling in water. I.E. all things Sizewell does not offer. If we’re serious about saving our natural environment we must stop building in places like Sizewell, else we cannot complain about other habitat destruction around the world.