nuclear-news

Biased pro nuclear report on UK’s Sizewell project ignores the negative economic impacts

East Anglian Daily Times 25th March 2021, Opponents of Sizewell C have criticised a report claiming the power project will bring a £2billion boost to Suffolk as “smoke and mirrors” – but council chiefs have welcomed the findings. Commissioned by the Sizewell C Consortium, a group of 200-plus businesses and organisations supporting the proposed nuclear power station, the report was written by Ernst and Young after speaking to supply chain and key businesses in the region. The report said the decade-long construction period would bring an investment of £4.4bn in the East of England, of which around £2bn would be in Suffolk, along with tens of thousands of new jobs.

Campaign group Stop Sizewell C said: “This report uses smoke and mirrors. It massively overstates construction period jobs by counting them by the year so, over a 10-year build, the number is only 10% of those claimed. “Over three quarters of EDF’s construction workforce – around 6,000 – would be imported from outside East Anglia. EDF’s management has made no secret of its ‘ambition’to bring skilled workers from its Hinkley site to Suffolk. “The report uses gross spend rather than any net ‘benefit’ to Suffolk. “If a £20billion project is going to dominate the area for a decade you would expect a proportion to be spent locally, but 10% seems very bad value for money.

“The report also ignores the many negative economic impacts on East Suffolk’s thriving SME-based local business community, such as traffic congestion, displacement of workers, and loss of customers – not least in tourism.”

https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/sizewell-economic-boost-reaction-7849530

March 27, 2021 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized