Update for Leiston Town Council

Thank you for the opportunity to provide an update to the council this evening. I’m the Senior Manager for Community Relations at Sizewell C. I have been working from the Sizewell C office on Leiston High Street since joining in late-September.

I joined the project after spending four-and-a-half years as the regional manager for policy, communications and engagement at the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in East Anglia, prior to which I worked for five years at an energy markets consultancy based in Norwich.

These roles facilitated a degree of interaction with Sizewell C. Particularly through my role at FSB, as part of which I spoke to local policy-makers about the priorities of the region’s small firms, I was able to understand some of the challenges and opportunities associated with the project.

I recognise the major contribution that Sizewell C can make to the UK’s long-term energy objectives; however, given my previous involvement in issues such as skills and regeneration at FSB, I was above all drawn to the project by an interest in ensuring that its delivery leaves a positive legacy for the area – and nowhere more so than in its home parish of Leiston-cum-Sizewell.

A core element of my role is to engage with parish councils in East Suffolk in order to keep them updated on developments at Sizewell C and to ensure that their concerns or queries about the project are answered promptly by our team.

As I will discuss, at least part of that engagement will, should the project progress to construction, come through the governance arrangements that have now been set out in the Deed of Obligation (DoO) as part of the planning process. But I would stress that the community relations team here in Leiston will always remain accessible to the Town Council outside these formal mechanisms, and we will be eager to attend meetings like this or to offer support through other channels as requested by councillors.

On this note, and by way of my first update, I can say to the council that the community relations team in the Leiston Office is continuing to expand, and we anticipate recruiting a new team member to lead on our engagement with local residents early in the new year. This will be a pivotal role in building our relationships with communities during the development and construction phases at a time when public interest in the project is likely to increase further.

You will be aware that, since Tom last provided you with an update, the planning examination for Sizewell C has concluded. The Planning Inspectorate is now just over half-way through its allotted three-month timeframe for filing its report to the Secretary of State, setting out a recommendation on whether to grant the project a Development Consent Order (DCO). The Secretary of State will have three months, taking us through to mid-April 2022, to decide on whether to grant the DCO. Parties will then have six weeks after the announcement to decide whether to seek a Judicial Review of the decision.

Towards the end of the planning process, we announced that the DoO for Sizewell C had been agreed with Suffolk County Council and East Suffolk Council. Much of the focus on the DoO subsequently has related to the various funding streams that it would put in place – for example, the £23mn commitment to a Community Fund for East Suffolk, or the £12mn Tourism Fund – but it is no less a document focused on governance, and on ensuring that throughout the construction process communities and their representatives not only have their voices heard but play an active role in the decision-making processes.

Leiston Town Council will have a pivotal role to play in these arrangements. As I’m sure councillors are aware, the council will be part of the Main Development Site Forum, which will mirror the Site Stakeholder Group in place at Sizewell B. It would be put in place ahead of construction to provide a mechanism for discussion during the construction process between Sizewell and community representatives local to the site.

The forum will include also representatives from Theberton and Eastbridge, Middleton-cum-Fordley, Aldringham-cum-Thorpe, Aldeburgh and Knodishall – as well as other key stakeholders such as the local representatives of East Suffolk Council and Suffolk County Council, the Office of Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency.

One of the key learnings that we have taken from Hinkley Point C is the value in establishing a model of governance that allows communities and their representatives to engage on issues that matter the most to them. That is why separately we will establish two transport forums, for communities surrounding the proposed park and ride sites – again with the aim of allowing those communities near the associated developments both to be informed of issues and to raise concerns of their own.

Each of these forums will be independently chaired and held on a quarterly basis, with one representative per council. We want this process to be inclusive: parishes who are not part of the initial list of participants in any of these forums are entitled to apply to the chair for membership if they feel that they should have representation.

A larger community forum will be held on an annual basis, with representatives of each parish council in East Suffolk invited to participate and members of the public able to attend.

The DoO includes much to unpack and it will be one of the main issues addressed within our next community newsletter, which will be delivered to all residents within 10 miles of the site early in the new year and outline the next steps for the project.

Alongside the planning process, the government has been progressing legislation through Parliament which would introduce new funding arrangements for large-scale nuclear power plants in the form of a Regulated Asset Base (RAB). We would not expect Royal Assent for that legislation until at least May 2022, after which it would be necessary for detailed secondary legislation to be agreed.

A successful outcome to these processes would put us in a position to make a Final Investment Decision on Sizewell C in late-2022 or early-2023.

It is vitally important that, while these processes move forward nationally, we continue to deliver our programme of engagement, survey work, and other activities in East Suffolk so that, should the project progress to construction, we are in the strongest position possible to deliver on our commitment to mitigate the impacts and maximise the opportunities.

On 22 November, we held a major conference, “Doing the Power of Good for East Suffolk”, at Trinity Park, bringing together our key stakeholders from across the district. As we emphasised before and during the event, the conference was above all an opportunity for us to hear from councillors, environmental groups, businesses and other organisations on the key opportunities that would materialise from Sizewell C and how we could take advantage of them.

We have been grateful to have received highly positive feedback about the event, but more importantly we have taken away a long list of actions that will inform our activities over the coming months. The “Focus on Leiston” break-out room, which was chaired by Tom, examined the question of leaving a positive legacy for the town. I understand that council representatives who attended that day will report to the council separately at this meeting, so I shall leave any further discussion on the outcomes for another day.

I would also like briefly to address some of the more significant survey activity that has been undertaken locally in recent weeks and is planned for the new year.

In the last few weeks, we have been conducting surveys of users of recreational locations around or near the Main Development Site. This includes Sizewell Beach Car Park and Sizewell Common. The purpose of these surveys is to gather baseline information about the usage of these sites, so that we can monitor how this usage evolves if and when we enter the construction phase, and thereby consider the introduction of further mitigation measures at agreed trigger points.

There are two main elements to this research. Firstly, we are conducting questionnaires with users of the locations to record the numbers of people and their behaviour at selected times of the year. The second aspect is the installation of people counters that will count users throughout the year.

A couple of points should be made about the way that these surveys are being conducted. Firstly, I would emphasise that the intention is to undertake the questionnaires at various points during the year, at times of both high and low demand. If the project proceeds to construction, then the people counters would remain in place for 10 years.

Secondly, the use of cameras as part of this process is essential as we must ensure that we are accurately tracking usage. The data, once recorded by the cameras, is anonymised, analysed by a computer and destroyed. The number of people counted is outputted onto spreadsheets for our records. The use of the cameras is fully GDPR-compliant and no personal, private data is captured or can be shared more widely.  

Looking ahead, I would like to highlight to the council some notable geotechnical trials that we are planning to progress at the Main Development Site from March or April 2022.

The first component of these works, which will take around four months to complete, is the trialling of the ground anchors that would provide support to the cut-off wall, which will be constructed around the main development area. The anchor design is a critical part in the overall scheme design, and it is therefore crucial to demonstrate the anchors’ technical and practical viability.

The second component of the works is deep soil mixing trials. These are necessary to facilitate ground improvement works, which would ensure that all areas of the Sizewell C main platform area were of the strength required for the foundation of earthworks. The deep soil mixing trials will inform the design of the ground treatment technique to be used well in advance of the start of the main enabling works. These trials would take approximately six months to complete.

In each case, we would of course seek to minimise disruption, and provide the council with notification in advance so that you were prepared for any questions from local residents.

That completes my update. Thank you for listening. I look forward to working with you in future and Caroline has my contact details if you have any queries or issue you wish to raise with the community relations team.