Representation by Andrew McDonald
- Date submitted
- 27 January 2020
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I am a Suffolk resident, and live and work in Sudbourne, near the coast of East Suffolk. I have been closely involved in planning matters in East Suffolk as a Parish Councillor, but wish to register as an Interested Party on my own account. I strongly support the representations on this specific matter (East Anglia One North) made by SASES and Friston Parish Council, but I wish to make it clear that my concerns are also focused on the wider implications of its part in the seven developments that constitute the so-called ‘Energy Coast’. The EA1N NSIP is part of a vast and uncoordinated series of seven infrastructure proposals, each of which will cause damage to landscape and visual amenity, light pollution and air quality. Each will help destroy the quality of life of an ageing and vulnerable population, and will permanently damage wildlife habitat. The impact on local transport during the development of these projects will be immense, with hundreds of HGV journeys each day added to the existing burden on the A12, and helping to deter and drive away tourists whose visits are financially crucial to the local economy. It is hard to understand how the implementation of national policy on these seven NSIPs has failed to take into account their cumulative impact, and the lack of an overall programme to co-ordinate access, building works and employment, and to reduce the duplication of disruptive works, is a scandal. It is vitally important that renewable and flexible energy resources are brought into use, but the damage that this uncoordinated implementation will have, not only physically but also in terms of public support for renewables, will be severe. As a local resident and councillor, I am aware of how important to the local economy our landscape heritage and fragile environment has become to our economy, with ‘tranquillity’ being the most widely quoted term for the attraction of the East Suffolk Coast. BVA BDRC’s 2019 report for the Suffolk Coast DMO showed quite clearly how EAN1 and its fellow NSIPs may be responsible for a fall of between £24-£40m pa in tourism income to the region as visitors realise that tranquillity and major industrial development in an AONB are not mutually compatible. For EAN1 in particular, there will be no ongoing local employment to replace this loss to the economy, merely the further loss of around 30 acres of wildlife habitat, and a further 83 acres of good agricultural land. Scottish Power, National Grid Ventures and EDF should be required by the Inspector to show how the impact of their several developments can be managed, reduced or eliminated by careful co-planning and proper scheduling in the interest not only of their future consumers, but also the populations, human and wildlife, who will have to bear the burden of these developments.