East Suffolk Council
Sizewell Nuclear Power Station
Along with Suffolk County Council, we are taking a joint local authority approach to the challenges and opportunities presented by Sizewell C - the proposed nuclear power station expansion at Sizewell.
EDF Energy’s Sizewell C Stage 1 consultation ended in February 2013.
Since February 2013 the councils have been working jointly in a number of areas:
- Commissioned a report to review the traffic impacts of EDF’s Sizewell C proposals on the A12 Woodbridge to Lowestoft route through the villages of Marlesford, Little Glemham, Stratford St Andrew and Farnham, which backs up the case for a four-villages bypass.
- Commissioned a report to look at route options for the A12 in December 2013.
- Responded to EDF’s scoping report for the Environmental Impact Assessment in May 2014 (the Secretary of State’s opinion on the scoping report is available on the National Infrastructure Planning website).
- Developed a number of principles relating to ecology, access, design and managing the Sizewell estate.
- Had input to the Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) evidence plan published in October 2014.
- Met with local campaigners for the four-villages bypass in January 2015.
- Commissioned a report looking at options for the B1122.
- Written to the Secretary of State for Transport seeking additional financial support for a four-villages bypass.
EDF Energy Sizewell C Stage 2 Consultation ended in February 2017.
- Joint council response to the Sizewell C Stage 2 consultation
- Commissioned a report to assess the potential economic impact for Sizewell C development in April 2018.
EDF Energy’s Sizewell C Stage 3 Consultation ended in March 2019.
EDF Energy’s Sizewell C Stage 4 Consultation ended in September 2019
Background
- November 2009 – the Government announced Sizewell would be a suitable site for the nuclear expansion programme
- February 2010 – the councils gave their formal responses to the Government's consultation on its draft National Policy Statements for Energy Infrastructure.
- October 2010 – Our Sizewell Task Group met for the first time.
- January 2011 – the two councils established a Sizewell C project office.
- July 2011 – the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change approved the National Policy Statements for Energy Infrastructure.
- January 2012 – the Sizewell C Joint Local Authority group (JLAG) was established to facilitate a joint local authority approach.
- October 2019 - the Council gave their response to the Governments consultation on Regulated Asset Base (RAB) model for Nuclear.
Sizewell C key milestones
The proposal is being dealt with as a National Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP). There are 6 key milestones in the planning phase of the proposed new power station:
- Stage 1 Consultation – suite of documents from EDF Energy setting out background and context to the development (21 November 2012 to 6 February 2013).
- Stage 2 Consultation – suite of documents from EDF Energy with details of the overall proposal for the new Sizewell C nuclear power station as well as documents for the associated developments needed to support the construction (23 November 2016 to 3 February 2017).
- Stage 3 consultation – gives a greater amount of technical information on the final proposal for the development (4 January to 29 March 2019).
- Stage 4 Consultation – an additional stage focusing on delivery of materials to the site, use of land and the management of local ecology (18 July to 27 September 2019).
- Submission of Development Consent Order (DCO) to the Secretary of State – EDF Energy submitted their application for DCO to the Planning Inspectorate on the 27 May 2020, the Planning Inspectorate have 28 days, until 24 June 2020 to determine whether or not to accept the application for examination. Up to date information on the project can be found on the Planning Inspectorate website.
- Decision by the Secretary of State – following its assessment, the Planning Inspectorate will make a recommendation to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State will make their final decision within 3 months of receiving the recommendation.