Katherine your Chair has been busy corresponding with Claire Coutinho (who is the new Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and was appointed in August 2023) on the onshore infrastructure for windfarms. Her intial email is below. 12 September 2023 By email to Secretary.State@energysecurity.gov.uk TO: Claire Coutinho MP Secretary of State Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET Dear Secretary of State As the civic society for the historic coastal town and cultural centre of Aldeburgh, we are strongly opposed to the plethora of energy projects being proposed by various operators for our fragile Suffolk Coastal area. We object to the concept of an onshore ‘Energy Superhub’ in the area of Sizewell and the medieval village of Friston, which would involve 6 major infrastructure projects within five square miles, this in a largely rural area with an already inadequate road system. The cumulative impact of multiple projects would effectively industrialise the Heritage Coast, which is supposed to be a nationally protected Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (containing also a number of SSSIs, SPA and RAMSAR designations), and would undermine the local nature-tourism reliant economy, which is of major importance to our town. The power which would be generated by the offshore windfarms and - if it goes ahead Sizewell - would not be used on the Suffolk Coast or in East Anglia. Instead, its onshore infrastructure of substations, cable corridors and pylons would plough through our countryside in order to power London and the South East. We are strongly in favour of offshore wind power but we deplore the absence of joined-up thinking about overall network design and infrastructure and we believe that national government needs to act urgently to ensure a more coherent and much less damaging approach. We support the many local voices calling for a more cost-effective solution based upon the development of an offshore grid. Progress towards this concept is now clearly technically feasible, and it would also be more cost-effective, saving billions for British consumers, giving energy security and safeguarding the environment and local communities. Pooling energy from windfarms offshore and linking them with interconnectors would be economic, would enable energy to be brought closer to where the demand is, and would avoid complex onshore planning and compulsory purchase issues. Bringing the power ashore in brownfield locations would promote local economic regeneration, and would raise fewer environmental protection problems. Whilst we understand that a fully integrated offshore transmission network (offshore grid) will take a number of years to develop, action can be taken now to help achieve Britain's future wind capacity goals at lower overall cost to the nation and to local communities. It is very encouraging that two pilot projects involving pooling energy at sea and transporting power by subsea cable closer to demand are already under consideration. These need to be implemented in order to test and perfect this technology over the next few years. The first pilot project is already being planned by the Five Estuaries and North Falls windfarms, combining with the Nautilus interconnector and taking power to the Isle of Grain as part of the OCSS (evidencing the sound rationale for this solution). The second pilot project, which would be of particular benefit to our coastal area, would combine Scottish Power's EA1N and EA2 windfarms with the projected LionLink interconnector to take power to the brownfield site of Bradwell closer to London, which has an existing substation and pylons that can be upgraded, offering huge overall savings. We are convinced that an offshore grid, such as is already being developed on the other side of the North Sea, would help enable Britain's future energy goals to be met both faster and at lower cost. This really has all the attributes of a win-win solution, and we know that the initial steps are readily achievable. We strongly urge the Government to provide, and implement robustly, a clear policy framework through which this highly desirable aim can be fulfilled. Yours sincerely, Katherine Mackie Chair, the Aldeburgh Society 47 Park Road Aldeburgh IP15 5EN This produced a rather unsatisfactory response from one of her officials which you can read here She has now written a response as below:
By email to [email protected] Claire Coutinho MP Secretary of State Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET Dear Secretary of State Your official's reply dated 3 October to the concerns set out in my letter of 13 September is profoundly disappointing. To dismiss the case for undersea transmission infrastructure at the same time that it is being implemented widely across the North Sea and also in other parts of the UK is not acceptable. Linking wind farm power undersea with interconnectors is a coherent way forward, with potential benefits for all partners and for coastal communities. Your Prime Minister laid great emphasis in his Party Conference speech on the importance of proper planning for the long term and of doing things differently. Yet your Department is clinging to the unplanned developer-led approach which is threatening to do so much damage to the Suffolk coast. Piecemeal installation of windfarm and interconnector onshore infrastructure is a major threat to our coastal AONB. Just the mass of construction traffic that can be anticipated could bring the whole area to a standstill. Given recent experience with the handling of the Planning Inspectorate's reports on the SPR windfarms and the Sizewell C DCO applications, it is hard to give credence to your assurance about the robustness and independence of the national infrastructure approval process. It is essential for central government to assert more control over these development proposals, not least in order to help ensure that there is public acceptance for the difficult and challenging process of moving towards net zero while electricity demand is set to increase exponentially. Letting developers ride roughshod over communities and landscapes, while holding out the carrot of 'community benefits', is not good enough. All the best Katherine Katherine Mackie Chair The Aldeburgh Society East Suffolk District Council would like to hear your views on proposals to create a new Conservation Area at Aldeburgh Park and three extensions to the existing Aldeburgh Conservation Area. All residents of Aldeburgh are being encouraged to respond.
The Council recently posted plans for a new Conservation Area in the Park Road area known as Aldeburgh Park together with changes to our existing Conservation Area. The Aldeburgh Society has been working with Aldeburgh Town Council and the Conservation Officers at East Suffolk to help with information and survey work towards the proposals. Your committee fully supports the Local Planning Authority’s initiative and proposed action. The designation of a conservation area does not mean every building will be preserved and no changes allowed. Change is inevitable and will be necessary for the day-to-day life, prosperity and enhancement of an area. But designation helps ensure changes respect the area’s character and appearance. Aldeburgh Park This is essentially what is currently called the Garrett Era Area and is composed of Park Road from Victoria Road to the gates near the school-see exact area on the plan attached to the consultation. It is already afforded special status by the Garrett Era Area policy included in the Local Planning Authority’s former Local Plan and carried forward until formal designation takes place. We believe that there are real advantages to making this into a Conservation Area- principally to protect it as a unique and characterful place to live and a leafy, quiet place for all residents of Aldeburgh to enjoy. It is used by families walking children to school, visitors to the hospital, cyclists, tennis and bowls players, and many others in addition to residents. For residents, designation is a recognition of the value of the appearance, character and historical significance of the area, which are doubtless the qualities that influenced residents to choose to live there in the first place or continue to live there. It must not be seen as any form of threat to the freedom of property owners, but as an additional help to preserve the character that they so value. It does not prevent ongoing renovations and like for like replacements but shows that the Local Planning Authority cares as much as they do for the character and appearance of the area in which they live by bringing in a minor increase in controls to prevent harm to the area by selfish actions regarding demolitions and work to trees over and above routine maintenance. We think it is in the interests of all Aldeburgh that this area gains the protection of Conservation Area status. Extensions to existing Conservation Area. The three areas proposed would benefit from similar advantages to those specified above, would add areas vital to display the evolutionary growth of the Town over time, would include areas of sea and river importance to views and history of the Town and would recognise an important group of buildings unique in themselves and significant in architectural terms. Please take a look at the detail in the letter you were sent or view the proposals online and help support these proposals which are seen as important to the continuing prestige of this Town we all love, by responding positively by 17th February. Click on the button below to go to the consultation. The Society is vey concerned about the projects proposed by National Grid called Sea Link and Eurolink.
Sea Link is a proposed new 2 gigawatt (GW) subsea high voltage direct current (HVDC) electricity connection, approximately 140 km in length and predominately offshore. This includes HVDC converter stations and high voltage alternating current (HVAC) connections onto the national electricity transmission system. Sea Link’s purpose is to reinforce the National Grid network by transmitting surplus electricity between the proposed Scottish Power Renewables’ sub-station to be built at Friston to a similar plant to be built at Richborough, close to Sandwich on the Kent coast. EuroLink is a new electricity link between Great Britain and the Netherlands and could supply up to 1.8 gigawatts (GW) of electricity. The current plans are for both of these networks to come ashore on this stretch of coast with preferred sites including Aldeburgh near the Scallop.. We believe these plans are ill-conceived and assembled without sufficient due diligence, They create an onshore Energy Superhub in the Suffolk Coastal area of Friston, with the cumulative impact of multiple projects effectively industrialising an area of outstanding natural beauty and decimating the local nature-tourism reliant economy. We are in favour of offshore wind power, but there is an appalling lack of joined-up thinking about offshore network design and onshore infrastructure. National Grid has failed to undertake adequate comparative analysis of options or think strategically in any way, selecting unnecessary deviations via East Anglia for their onshore infrastructure. We hope our members will agree with our position on these projects and will complete a response to the consultations on these projects by 18th December as set out in our chair's letter to members which can be found here. This can be found by clicking on the button below.
rOn September 23rd the Society had a very successful talk by Lord Deben in the Jubilee Hall on climate change and how it will affect us here in Aldeburgh. Below are some pictures of this well attended event.
Lord Deben, John Gummer, an acknowledged international figure in the world of climate change is Chairman of the Climate Change Committee, as an MP represented Suffolk constituencies for over thirty years, and as a minister was hailed by BBC Wildlife Magazine as ‘the environment secretary against which all others are judged’. He discussed what the world and in particular Aldeburgh can expect as climate change takes hold. This was the first time an Aldeburgh Society event was held in the Jubilee Hall-and we filled it! The latest report from our local county councillor (T-J Haworth-Culf Conservative Councillor for Aldeburgh and Leiston) can be found here.
EDF wants to build two huge nuclear reactors on the fragile Suffolk Heritage Coast. The government is expected to decide if Sizewell C will get planning permission in May 2022 and is in negotiations with EDF about how Sizewell C would be paid for. The Society has considerable concerns about its potential impact on the Town and its environs.
The Society has attended a meeting with BEIS and written to Therese Coffey our MP. The report of the meeting with BEIS can be found here. And the letter to Therese Coffey here. As of early evening on 31 March 2022, Scottish Power Renewables East Anglia One North and East Anglia Two offshore wind projects have been consented. As you are no doubt aware the Society believe this to be the wrong solution and that the power should be brought ashore elsewhere.
For those who would like to read more the Decision and the Examining Authority’s Report are linked here. There is now a 6-week window to ask the court for permission to proceed with a claim for a judicial review. The campaigning group SEAS has explored the viability of mounting a challenge and is raising funds to do so. The Society is looking at the possibility of contributing a small amount to this. Previously we have had correspondence with The Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and our letter and the response can be found here. The Aldeburgh Society's response to the National Grid Nautilus Interconnector consultation can be found HERE.
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