Suffolk Energy Action Solutions (SEAS)

Hi, my name is Fiona. I am writing this appeal as a member of the Suffolk Energy Action Solutions ( SEAS) team. SEAS is a community interest group in coastal Suffolk raising money to promote offshore solutions to carry wind power to brownfield sites closer to London and demand. We have benchmarked the leaders in offshore innovation - Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. A technology revolution is occurring and Britain is the snail at the back of the queue, yet to grasp the opportunity for reducing onshore infrastructure by over 50% by pivoting to offshore meshed grids.

Current plans are ill- conceived, outdated and irrational, needlessly damaging our rare and

unique countryside along the Heritage Coast.

Suffolk Energy Action Solutions ( SEAS) is a pan- regional group representing all communities from Reydon/ Southwold to Aldeburgh including Walberswick, Thorpeness , Leiston, Snape and the villages threatened along cable trench routes and Friston/ Saxmundham, the site designated for the first super hub, covering at least 80 football pitches in concrete monoliths and steel towers.

SEAS was set up in July 2019. It has a Finance Audit Committee who supervise expenditure and priorities. Monies raised to date include for specialist environmental studies, advocacy, legal counsel, print, website, social media, video films. We need to keep going, not give up now.

This is a critical moment as we now have to prepare our evidence for the Development Consent Order ( DCO) Examinations for Sea Link, due to begin in March 2025.

This DCO is our best chance to persuade both Inspectors and Government that these plans are wrong.

For the first time, we can demonstrate the colossal adverse cumulative impact of seven energy projects destined to be constructed within a five square mile radius of a thriving tourism resort. These projects include twin reactors at Sizewell C, Sea Link, LionLink, SCD2, National Grid substation, ScottishPower EA1N and EA2. Over 30% of Britain’s energy is planned to go through this hub.

For security reasons this is not wise.

For economic reasons this is not sensible, as it is going to undermine the tourism which is the main revenue sector for Suffolk Coast. Tranquillity, wildlife and wilderness is what ornithologists, ramblers, cyclists, artists and visitors seek on their visits to this coast and that is not compatible with these plans.

For social and environmental reasons these plans make no sense at all.

With 15% year on year decline in tourism revenues during 12 years of construction, as forecast by the Destination Management Organisation, the impact on mental health and livelihoods has not been assessed or taken into account by the developers or Government.

In order to make our case, we must prepare professional specialist reports relating to traffic flow, road congestion, tourism

impact, long term damage to ecology, heritage, landscape, flood risk and amenities. We must appoint legal counsel to advise and energy economists to show how there are better short-term solutions and cheaper mid- term solutions using new technology.

Your support really matters. Without your help we could not have managed to get a holistic Review called , nor a pilot test proposed back in 2021 for Nautilus to go to Grain ( which was agreed in principle in 2024), to get a judicial review, which was heard at Court of Appeal, and now your support is needed once again to persuade the decision makers that they need to rethink Sea Link and their hub sites and project designs. Britain should set out core design principles and they start with the use of brownfield sites closer to demand for super size hubs.

We must raise funds to pay for these professionals and be ready by March to make the best possible case.

It is our best chance to stop these needlessly destructive plans because the scale of the plans is now out in the open, no longer a secret. If these plans get approval, this region will suffer a seismic shift from a coastal rural retreat to a semi- industrial zone, and the great loss will be felt by millions of visitors as well as by communities. We will have destroyed the very biodiversity and the vital wetlands on which this planet rests, in the name of clean energy.

That is why I am appealing to you and your friends and family to join us in this battle.

Make a difference, please donate now and subscribe to our Newsletters to follow our progress.

Thank you on behalf of SEAS. Act now and please spread the word.