Councillor Richard Rout, Suffolk County Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Environment, said:
“I'm deeply disappointed that National Grid has chosen to consider such a lengthy and complex cable route. Particularly given the Council’s longstanding position that the array of projects coming forward in Suffolk should be properly coordinated.
“The impact of these proposals on communities in and around Southwold and Walberswick could be stark and I’m concerned that coordinating this project with schemes further to the south seems to have been so readily dismissed.
“The large amount of infrastructure and lack of coordination will spread the impact much more widely across Suffolk's communities and landscapes, including in the nationally important Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.”
The Lionlink project aims to connect multiple offshore wind farms in the North Sea, instead of individual wind farms connecting one by one to the shore. The project is a joint venture between the UK and the Netherlands, supplying energy to both countries.
Cllr Rout continues:
“If National Grid Ventures are to bring this project ashore in Suffolk, they must fully justify why far less harmful alternatives have not been fully considered and why they are not working with other projects in the area.”
“We welcome that some points like traffic concerns have been addressed from the previous consultation, and that coordination with other projects is being explored. But the project must go much further if it is serious about working with other energy developers.
“The Council will need to consider the full proposals when they are published and, as ever, if it proceeds we will be insisting the developer does everything they can to minimise the impact on communities along Suffolk's coast.”
The non-statutory consultation on National Grid Venture’s LionLink project will commence on the 8 September 2023, and will remain open until 3 November 2023.
