County council continues to highlight issues with Sea Link energy project

At the first opening hearing in November 2025, the county council maintained its long-standing position that development consent should not be granted, and it continues to object to the Sea Link proposals.

At this latest hearing, the county council outlined where improvements need to be made, and where details remain lacking with the National Grid’s proposals:

• Fundamental flaws remain with Benhall Bridge, including impacts on heritage, landscape, and the local community
• Significant concern for the safety and wellbeing of Whitearch Park home residents, especially around maintaining access during construction
• No expansion of the Order Limits at the converter station site to allow for improved mitigation planting and a public right of way
• The access route is not suitable and the county council has submitted details of an alternative access route for the project, arguing it offers greater long term robustness and fewer adverse impacts

Councillor Richard Rout, Suffolk County Council’s Cabinet Member for Devolution, Local Government Reorganisation and NSIPs, said:

“We recognise that the applicant has made some modifications to their submission, but it still falls far short of what we would expect – particularly to protect local residents, highways infrastructure and the landscape.

“Our fundamental concerns about the Benhall Bridge, the crossing over the River Fromus and National Grid’s flawed transport strategy all remain. There is clearly a better access route to the site and we made this case to the examining authority,

“It is regrettable that the issues raised by both the county council and local communities have not been given the attention they deserve. Through the examination process, we will continue to put our evidence directly to the Planning Inspectorate for the benefit of Suffolk residents.”

The Examination stage began in November and is expected to take up to six months.

Councillor Richard Rout’s full speech:

My name is Councillor Richard Rout and I am Cabinet Member for Devolution, Local Government Reform and Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects at Suffolk County Council.

I'd like to thank you for providing this opportunity for me to address you in person about the Sea Link proposed change requests for the project.

The applicant has proposed modifications in relation to the red line at the Benhall Road over rail bridge. As requested by the Examining Authority, the county council has provided further details regarding its alternative approach to the project’s access route found in REP4-149 and REP5-179. These submissions set out the Council's rationale for this proposal and its benefits relative to the considerable adverse impacts and risks associated with the applicant’s proposal for access to the site.

The only real change to the application caused by the inclusion of the Benhall Bridge in the red line boundary is that the process of acquiring the necessary consents to use the bridge becomes simpler for the applicant. Indeed, the proposed modifications put forward do little more than serve to underline the inherent weaknesses and flaws of the proposed development. The impacts of the scheme on heritage and landscape remain and as the examination has progressed, the impacts of the access proposals on the local community have become even more apparent.

The Council is particularly concerned regarding the well-being and safety of the residents Whitearch Park in Benhall. The Council is pleased that the Applicant has now recognised the importance of access for the Whitearch residents, as shown by commitments to taxis for residents who do not have access to a vehicle in the latest version of the Register of Environmental Actions and Commitments REP5-116.

However, the Council is concerned with the lack of detail regarding how these commitments will work in practice. Detail has not been provided demonstrating that access for Whitearch residents can be maintained whilst a mini-bridge is installed over the Benhall Bridge. The council considers greater detail regarding the logistics of the taxi service should be provided in a control document, to be agreed post-consent, with the Council.

It is noted that the applicant has provided a response to the preliminary alternative access proposal set out by the Council in REP5-125. Suffolk County Council will respond to this at the next deadline.

However, in the interim, I will just say, the county council recognises that its alternative access proposal is not without issues, but considers that on balance, the benefits of this alternative access scheme, outweigh those issues, and that the scheme offers in the long-term strategic benefits. Therefore, notwithstanding the longer journey time, the alternative scheme of access is substantially more robust than that being proposed by the applicant.

In the Council’s consultation response and relevant representation on the Change Request [REP3A-031], strongly recommended that further expansion of the Order Limits is needed at the Converter Station site to increase the provision of mitigation planting and allow for a Public Right of Way. However, this has not happened.

Rather, the small changes only serve to demonstrate the contrast with the LionLink project, which set out a comprehensive preliminary approach to the design of the site in their recent consultation, an approach that had been developed in response to detailed feedback from the community.

Finally, turning to the modifications to the scheme at the Friston Substation site, whilst these are welcome improvement in terms of alignment between projects, the Council has submitted to the examination in REP5-181 a table setting out how the DCO wording needs further amendment to ensure that the benefits of the safeguards secured by the existing Scottish Power Renewables consent are fully transposed into the Sea Link DCO.

We’ve worked with Friston Parish Council on this issue, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Parish Council and Mr Michael Mahoney, in particular, for working constructively with the Council on this issue.