To: The Rt Hon Alok Sharma MP, Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy
cc The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP, Minister of State, BEIS, Nadhim Zahawi, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, BEIS, The Rt Hon Therese Coffey MP, Peter Aldous MP, Dr Dan Poulter MP, Humphrey Cadoux-Hudson, EDF Energy
31 March 2020
Dear Secretary of State,
We write as individuals deeply concerned about EDF’s proposals to build twin nuclear reactors at Sizewell C. While we welcome EDF’s decision on 26 March to defer submitting its application for development consent “for a few weeks”, we ask you to instruct EDF to delay further until all coronavirus restrictions have been lifted and time and resources are available to focus fully on an application of this scale, because of its significant national and local impacts. The robustness of the DCO process would be severely compromised if there were any constraints on the Planning Inspectorate, Statutory Advisers, Local Authorities, Parish and Town Councils, Groups or individuals.
We additionally wish to emphasise our considerable and rising opposition to EDF’s damaging project. The Sizewell site is totally unsuitable, lying within the Suffolk Coast & Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, hemmed in by protected habitats including RSPB Minsmere, and on an unstable and eroding coastline. The site is much smaller than government guidelines suggest is required for two reactors (two thirds the size of Hinkley Point C) and thanks to flooding caused by climate change, at risk of becoming an island by the time any plants are decommissioned or spent fuel is removed. The RSPB’s view is that Sizewell is not a suitable place to build a new nuclear power station, and that significant damage cannot be avoided or mitigated. The project is at odds with DEFRA’s 25 year plan to increase biodiversity.
HM government’s National Policy statement recognises that Sizewell is significantly more environmentally sensitive than other designated sites, and your statutory advisers – the Environment Agency, Natural England and the Marine Management Organisation – have expressed deep concerns to the Planning Inspectorate about EDF’S preparations for DCO.
Suffolk is poorly equipped to facilitate EDF’s delivery of this major project, lacking transport infrastructure and a significant local workforce with relevant skills. Thousands of workers from outside the region will have to be accommodated in a rural area, which – coupled with traffic congestion – will significantly impact tourism and other businesses in a region prized for its beauty, tranquility and dark, star-filled, skies.
“Big nuclear” remains very expensive compared to the rapidly falling prices of other energy sources, and the poor construction record of EDF, including at Hinkley Point, means that it will be impossible for EDF to predict accurately how much Sizewell C will cost and how long it will take to build. Furthermore, located in the south of the UK, Sizewell C would not serve your objectives to “level up” the country. With more than 180 studies now published into 100% renewable energy scenarios, we question whether “big nuclear” remains a desirable part of the energy mix. While we welcome EDF’s recent statements about the realistic prospects of extending operations at Sizewell B by a further 20 years, we firmly believe that any investment in Sizewell C will suck valuable financial resources from better technologies, and therefore we cannot support this project.
Signed:
Dr Andy Wood OBE DL, Chief Executive, Adnams plc
Jon and Lois Hunt, Heveningham Hall
James Hopkins, Executive Chairman, Hopkins Homes
William Kendall DL, Entrepreneur
Bill Turnbull, Broadcaster
Bill Nighy, Actor
Diana Quick, Actor
Maggi Hambling CBE, Painter and Sculptor
Matthew Freud, Head of Freud Communications
Libby Purves OBE, Broadcaster
Paul Greengrass, Film Director
David Morrissey, Actor, Director
The Duke of Grafton, Euston Estate
The Lord Marlesford DL, House of Lords
Caroline Cranbrook OBE, President of the Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival
The Rt Hon Ben Gummer
Sir Kenneth Carlisle, former MP and Lady Carla Carlisle
Sir David Madel, former MP
Geoffrey Probert DL, President Suffolk Preservation Society
William Sieghart CBE, Entrepreneur
Justin Dowley, Chairman, Melrose Industries plc
Clare Howes DL
Sir Christopher Howes, former CEO of Crown Estates
Caroline Slocock, Director of Civil Exchange,
Major-General (Rtd) John Sutherell CB, CBE
Guy Heald, Chairman, Hotel Folk
Sir Michael and Lady Hopkins, Hopkins Architects
Cllr David Wood, Chair, Suffolk Coast & Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Partnership
Tim Rowan Robinson DL, Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival
Sir Charles Burrell, Knepp Castle Estate, Rewilding pioneer
Isabella Tree, Author and Travel Writer
Ruth Watson, Restaurateur and Hotelier
Robert Townshend, Townshend Landscape Architects
Richard Ellis, Chairman of Original Cottages
Julia Blackburn, Writer, FRSL
Hugh Brody, Anthropologist
Nick Burfield, former Policy Director, Suffolk Chamber of Commerce
Michael Pritt, Owner, Wentworth Hotel, Aldeburgh
Sir Humphrey Burton CBE, Writer and Broadcaster
Helen Atkinson Wood, Actor
John Morton, Writer
Jo Deakin, Journalist
Mark Whitby BSc, FICE, FREng, Hon FRIBA, former President, Institute of Civil Engineers
Theresa Tollemache, Director of Volga Linen
Christian Blackshaw, Concert Pianist
Edward Creasy, Corporate Chairman
Molly Dineen, Film Director
Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Writer, FRSL
Dan Franklin, Publisher
Rev. Canon Christine Redgrave
Amanda Maxwell Dip RBS, TCPD, ARAD, Classical Ballet Dancer
Anthony Silverstone, Consultant Gynaecologist
Beverley Silverstone, Freelance Arts Administrator
Jan Etherington, TV Comedy Scriptwriter
Major Philip Hope-Cobbold DL, Glemham Hall
Plus 3 names who signed privately