1 November 2017

Dear Signor Rossi,

We congratulate you on becoming EDF’s new Chief Executive and extend a warm invitation to visit Suffolk. As a musician, you may know of Snape Maltings and perhaps your daughters would like to see Ed Sheeran’s “Castle on the Hill”?

We wish to show you the beauties of Minsmere and the Heritage Coast and introduce you to the peaceful parish of Theberton & Eastbridge, the community on the very front line of your company’s plans to build two new reactors at Sizewell. As EDF’s proposals currently stand, 2,400 construction workers are to be housed in temporary accommodation on the boundary of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and 900 lorries will be pounding down a country road through our villages, shaking listed buildings and residents alike.

You are taking up your position at a time when relations between our communities and EDF are at an all time low. We are currently awaiting feedback on EDF’s second stage consultation, but unless radical changes are made, we will be forced to conclude that the consultations are purely symbolic and that EDF has never had any intention of addressing our concerns.

In your new role, you have an opportunity to bring a fresh approach to tackling the cumulative and unacceptable impacts of constructing SIzewell C. We hope that you will help to repair relations with our community by visiting us, so that we may discuss our concerns directly with you, including:

* the social and environmental consequences of housing 2,400 workers in an isolated rural location 300m from Eastbridge. A recent report [1] commissioned by Suffolk County Council concluded that EDF’s preferred site was significantly more environmentally damaging than other options. We urge you to re-examine all options including split-sites.

* the impact of a massive increase in heavy vehicles using the B1122, with consequential dangers of accidents, vibration damage to buildings, increased noise and vehicle emissions, and tackling the congested A1120/A12/B1122 junction. We urge EDF to build a Sizewell Relief Road, as proposed for Sizewell B. [2]

* the cumulative impact on the fragile environment of the Minsmere and Sizewell levels, surrounding AONB and on the predominantly tourist-based economy of this area. This includes the proposals to create deep quarry excavations and 30- metre high spoil, gravel and sand heaps – as tall as Bury St Edmunds Cathedral – destroying the natural environment and its tranquillity, and the potential for accelerated shoreline erosion.

Yours faithfully,

Alison Downes and Paul Collins
Co Chairs, Theberton & Eastbridge Action Group on Sizewell C (TEAGS)
info@stopsizewellc.org, www.stopsizewellc.org

1. Boyer and Cannon report 
2. This route was positively re-evaluated in the 2015 AECOM report 

Read online.  East Anglian Daily Time, 17 November 2017 by Richard Cornwell

Officials from EDF Energy say they will also examine the possibility of further improvements to the B1122 road from the A12 at Yoxford to Leiston.

EDF’s preferred site for the Sizewell C workers’ campus is near Eastbridge and Minsmere, but has generated fierce objection from campaigners worried about its impact on the environment and from people living nearby.

Consultants Boyer and Cannon working for Suffolk County Council have suggested a number of alternative locations, near Saxmundham and Leiston, plus splitting accommodation across several sites.

Last night officials from EDF met with representatives of parish councils and a wide range of organisations to report back on the feedback – more than 1,000 responses – to the Sizewell C stage two consultation, which closed in February.

Carly Vince, head of strategic planning for EDF Energy Nuclear New Build, said the company would be considering each of the sites put forward by the county council consultants and would report back on these as part of the stage three consultation to either justify a new site or to justify the Eastbridge option.

She said Eastbridge had become the preferred option after the stage one consultation when other sites were rejected, and other potential locations had already been ruled out before this as part of initial preparatory work.

Eastbridge is EDF’s preferred site because it would be on the doorstep of the construction site, allowing workers to walk to work, taking cars off the road, allow better management of the workforce, and reduce demand for short-term accommodation elsewhere, limiting impact on the tourist and private housing sector.

She said: “We will look at each in more detail in terms of the environmental impact, the effect on community and functionality. We have not ruled out any sites.”

EDF has proposed a new junction at the A12/B1122 at Yoxford, either traffic lights or a roundabout, which is preferred by the public and is needed because the junction is nearing capacity, and also some improvements along the B1122. The route will be reassessed to see if more work is required.

31 October 2017, By Richard Cornwell

Members of Sizewell C protest group TEAGS with protest banners outside Endeavour House before a Suffolk County Council cabinet meeting. Picture: GREGG BROWN

Alison Downes and Paul Collins, co chairs of Theberton & Eastbridge Action Group on Sizewell C (TEAGS), have issued the invitation to Simone Rossi, who takes over today as the company’s new chief executive. [Read the Open Letter here.]

TEAGS wants to put its concerns to Mr Rossi face-to-face and give him a guided tour of the area, including Minsmere and the county’s Heritage Coast, and Theberton and Eastbridge, on the front line of the plans for Sizewell.

His predecessor Vincent de Rivaz said only this week that he expected Sizewell C to be built and generating electricity by 2031.

In their open letter to Mr Rossi, Ms Downes and Mr Collins said: “As EDF’s proposals currently stand, 2,400 construction workers are to be housed in temporary accommodation on the boundary of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and 900 lorries will be pounding down a country road through our villages, shaking listed buildings and residents alike.

“We are currently awaiting feedback on EDF’s second stage consultation, but unless radical changes are made, we will be forced to conclude that the consultations are purely symbolic and that EDF has never had any intention of addressing our concerns.

“We hope that you will help to repair relations with our community by visiting us, so that we may discuss our concerns directly with you.”

They said Mr Rossi, in his new role, had “an opportunity to bring a fresh approach to tackling the cumulative and unacceptable impacts” of constructing Sizewell C.

These included the social and environmental consequences of the workers’ campus and urged him to re-examine all options including split-sites; the impact of a “massive increase” in heavy vehicles using the B1122, congestion at its A12 junction, and the need for a Sizewell Relief Road, as proposed for Sizewell B; and the “cumulative impact on the fragile environment” of the Minsmere and Sizewell levels, surrounding the AONB and on the tourist-based economy of the east Suffolk area.

EDF Energy did not wish to comment on TEAGS’ letter to Mr Rossi.