Representation by Lesley Walduck
- Date submitted
- 27 January 2020
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I object to the proposals in Scottish Power Renewables' application for a DCO for East Anglia One North, and agree with representations made by Snape Parish Council, Friston Parish Council, 31 other local councils and Substation Action Save East Suffolk (SASES), for the reasons stated therein. An urgent review is needed of the impacts of all seven major Energy projects currently planned for this small, very rural geographical area (including the DCO for EDF Energy proposals for Sizewell C expected in Spring 2020). I am not against renewable energy, but we need an overall co-ordinated energy strategy for windpower. At the moment it’s a free for all. Each wind farm, together with National Grid, applies for its own cabling and substation, with the result that we waste time, energy and huge amounts of land and massively increase the environmental impact all down the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk. SPR and others plan to transform the Suffolk Heritage Coast into ‘The Energy Coast’ showing an arrogant disregard for the towns, villages, wildlife and open countryside that make the area so special. Residents and visitors place a high value on the peace, tranquillity and natural environment of our area - all of which would be at significant risk from the projects as currently planned. Tourism is the mainstay of coastal Suffolk’s economy, with a significant number of dependent jobs, and SPR’s proposals place this industry at high risk. The cumulative energy proposals - EDF’s Sizewell C, SPR’s onshore development for offshore windfarms, National Grid’s substation and National Grid Ventures Interconnectors Nautilus & Eurolink for Belgium and Holland would destroy the character of this part of the Suffolk Coast forever. This chaotic shortsighted vandalism of our environment is completely unnecessary and has not been thought through. SPR has offered no acceptable explanation for its abandonment of the already permitted Bawdsey-Bramford cable route, whose selection would have made the present application redundant. We need a more efficient and co-ordinated solution to minimise the damage that bringing electricity onshore would cause. An offshore ring main would collect the electricity bringing it onshore at one or two points with a major substation. This could be implemented in an area already industrialised such as Bradwell or Lowestoft, instead of each individual wind farm willy-nilly having its own cabling and massive substations dotted all over East Anglia. These developments would only bene?t a few energy companies. The cumulative impact of having seven of these sequential industrial energy developments running in parallel with a proposed Sizewell C development would devastate the local environment, economy and the health and well-being of all those who live in, work in and visit our Parishes and Towns over a period of many years, impacting negatively on the whole of East Suffolk. It should be possible to meet the UK’s energy needs and meet carbon targets without trashing the countryside. There must be a balance.