Councillors have reiterated their calls on the Government to
ensure that Suffolk Coastal’s communities have a chance to make
their local voice heard on the possible building of a new nuclear
power station at Sizewell.
Last night’s (Tuesday) Cabinet meeting debated the Council’s
official response to the Government’s National Policy Statements
for Energy Infrastructure, which include the assessment that
Sizewell may be suitable for a new nuclear power station.
“The Government is still not recognising the importance of
ensuring that local knowledge and concerns are taken fully on board
if plans for Sizewell are ever submitted. We remain committed to
demanding that the communities of Suffolk Coastal must have the
right to reject any proposal which has an unreasonable local
impact,” said Cllr Andrew Nunn, Cabinet Member for the Green
Environment.
“The Government announced in November that it thought that
Sizewell would be a suitable site for its nuclear expansion
programme and launched a consultation exercise. I hope it will now
listen to our calls for a real local say, which cannot be brushed
aside because of national priorities.
“Any decision on a new Sizewell must take into account local
impacts in terms of design and detailed location, and the capacity
of the local community and environment to absorb development of
this scale. There must be the scope for a refusal should these
local issues not be successfully resolved, whatever the national
need for more electricity,” added Cllr Nunn.
Suffolk Coastal is calling for there to be a positive lasting
legacy should a new power station be approved, which would help
compensate the local communities for the disruption that would
occur during the potentially seven year long construction
period.
Among the possible projects that Cabinet identified that would
be appropriate for the area around Sizewell are improvements to
local roads, coastal defences, housing and community
facilities.
Concerns were also raised about major costs likely to be
incurred for the Council to carry out the in-depth work on behalf
of the local community which any application will inevitably
require. This includes the full analysis of all the details of the
applications, local consultation, and the monitoring of any
conditions included in a planning permission.
“Usually we would be able to rely on the fees from the planning
applications to fund this work, but the Government intends that its
new Infrastructure Planning Commission will retain the entire fee
for the application and make the final decision,” said Cllr Andy
Smith, Cabinet Member for Planning.
“This Council and the Local Government Association, which
represents councils across the country, have pressed the Government
to make part of the fee available to us, so as to ensure we can
properly protect the interests of our communities. However
those pleas have been rebuffed.
“We will have no choice but to seek funding from the applicant
EDF, as we are not prepared to put this burden on to our local
Council Taxpayers. It is something we are reluctant to do but we
believe we can draw up an agreement that will ensure our
independence while giving us the resources to do what we have to
do,” added Cllr
Smith.