Sizewell C: Planning shake-up – getting rid of environmental assessment ‘runs roughshod over objectors’.

A government shake-up of planning which could bring forward the building of Sizewell C is “deeply dismaying”, campaigners said.

BBC News 24 Sept 22,

New legislation aims to cut planning rules and get rid of environmental assessments to speed up construction.

The nuclear power station in Suffolk is among projects to be “accelerated as fast as possible”, the Treasury said.

Stop Sizewell C said the plan “rode roughshod over the ability to fight damaging projects”.

The scheme, currently estimated to cost £20bn, was given government approval in July, against the advice of the Planning Inspectorate.

The new plant would be built by French-owned EDF next to the existing Sizewell B, which is still generating electricity, and Sizewell A, which has been decommissioned.

Fellow campaigners Together Against Sizewell C (TASC) has instigated a judicial review process over the planning approval, claiming it was illegal.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng, who gave Sizewell the go-ahead when he was business secretary, made the latest announcement as part of his Autumn statement.

New legislation would be brought forward to “address barriers by reducing unnecessary burdens to speed-up the delivery of much-needed infrastructure”, the Treasury said………………………….. more https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-6301233.

September 22, 2022 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, politics, UK