East Suffolk Council
Formal response to National Grid’s Sea Link consultation
East Suffolk Council has raised a number of key concerns in response to consultation on proposals for a major energy infrastructure project.
The Council submitted its written response, agreed by East Suffolk Council’s Cabinet, to National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) as part of statutory consultation into the Sea Link project, which is one of several reinforcement projects proposed as part of the Great Grid Upgrade.
NGET has stated that the Sea Link project is required to add greater capacity to the electricity transmission network, allowing anticipated renewable energy, generated offshore, to connect to the network and be transported around the country.
The project includes installation of a new high voltage undersea electricity cable link between Suffolk and Kent – with construction of a converter station near Saxmundham, a substation near Friston, and underground cabling running from both sites out to sea at Aldeburgh.
A number of public exhibitions and webinars were held in East Suffolk as part of the consultation between 24 October and 18 December 2023 – with postal responses accepted until Tuesday 2 January 2024.
Councillor Tom Daly, East Suffolk Council's cabinet member for Energy and Climate Change, said:
“We recognise the need to deliver infrastructure to help achieve net zero targets, but we must ensure coordination and efficiency in the network to minimise detrimental impacts on the environment and local communities.
“The Council objects to the proposed grid reinforcement proposals because:
• The proposals provide insufficient levels of coordination or certainty of coordination with other nationally significant infrastructure projects proposed in the locality.
• The proposals are likely to result in further unacceptable harm, alone and in combination, to the communities, environment and economy of East Suffolk.
• Further consideration should be given to alternative coordinated offshore solutions.
• Further consideration of the timing of the need case is necessary.
“Although we will not decide whether or not the scheme is approved, we are a statutory consultee in the process and we are adamant that the views of those most affected by this project are fully taken into account.”
NGET has said it will give all representations due regard in preparation of proposals for the scheme prior to formal submission to the Planning Inspectorate in the autumn of 2024.
As a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP), the decision on whether to grant development consent for Sea Link will rest with the Secretary of State.