Representation by Christine Wall
- Date submitted
- 30 September 2020
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
As a long term visitor and onetime resident of East Suffolk I wish to register my objections to the proposed construction of Sizewell C. These I set out below in no order of priority: Environmental • The site proposed is in the heart of an AONB and evidence has been provided by Suffolk Wildlife Trust and RSPB that it will irreparably damage the flora and fauna unique to the heath and dunes of Sizewell beach and the Minsmere reserve • The dangerous and unpredictable effect of storing yet more radioactive material at Sizewell, into the next century after it is decommissioned, on an unstable and eroding coast. Damage from the construction process • At its peak the site will demand 3 million litres of water a day from an area which already suffers droughts increasing in frequency with climate change. EDF have not provided evidence on how this water will be provided and the impact it will have on the livelihoods of local farmers and residents and existing groundwater levels • An influx of an estimated 6,000 temporary workers will create huge pressure on local services, health, housing and education, which are already weakened by austerity and the effects of covid-19 • The increased amount of road traffic will pollute, damage and affect the daily lives of local residents. The A12 and local B roads are not suitable for large numbers of HGVs • The huge carbon footprint caused by construction which will take over 6 years to off-set. Social Impacts • Building another nuclear reactor will have a devastating effect on the local tourist economy, both during construction and after. This will impact on many local jobs • New jobs created by EDF will not benefit local people who are expected to provide 90% of posts in servicing i.e. catering, maintenance etc. but only very few in skilled, salaried and professional positions • Daily life for local people, Leiston in particular, as the nearest town to the construction site, will become extremely difficult – especially as this application does not take into account concurrent applications for further expansion of other energy producers at the same site • The resulting site of a group of decommissioned but still dangerous reactors is a poisonous legacy to leave future generations This part of the Suffolk coast, a designated AONB, has already suffered from the construction of two nuclear reactors, Sizewell A built 1961-6 and Sizewell B 1987-95. While the first was built in the white heat and optimism of the post-war period, opposition to the second resulted in the longest running public enquiry in Britain. Nuclear power is now a redundant and expensive twentieth century technology and it seems perverse and backward looking to construct a third facility when renewable energy is now the cheap and environmentally sound option for the future. I fully support the representations submitted by Stop Sizewell C, Suffolk Wildlife Trust and the RSPB.