In November 2009 the government announced that Sizewell, amongst other sites, would be a suitable location for a new nuclear power station.
EDF Energy is bringing forward an application to construct and operate Sizewell C.
In 2011 the National Policy Statements for Energy Infrastructure were approved. These contain the policies by which applications for major energy projects are judged, and as such, are relevant to the Sizewell proposals.
The Planning Inspectorate will determine the application, not the local councils.
However Suffolk County Council and Suffolk Coastal District Council are statutory consultees and will evaluate, challenge and comment upon the proposals for a new nuclear power station to get the best possible outcomes for the people of Suffolk.
There are 4 key milestones in the planning phase of the proposed new power station:
- Stage One Consultation – EDF Energy set out the background and context to the development, this consultation concluded on 6 Feb 2013. Suffolk County Council and Suffolk Coastal District Council sent a Joint response to this.
- Stage Two consultation – A second formal stage of consultation ran from 23 November 2016 to 3 February 2017. Our joint response to this is available on the joint local authority page
- Stage Three consultation – A next stage of public consultation
- Submission of Development Consent Order (DCO) to the Planning Inspectorate – the DCO will be produced by EDF Energy following the refinement of their proposals as a result of the public consultation responses.
The Planning Inspectorate may take up to a year to assess the application before making a recommendation to the Secretary of State (SoS).
Following this recommendation the SoS will have up to three months to make the final decision.
Joint Local Authority Group
We've been working with Suffolk Coastal District Council on Sizewell C, establishing a Joint Local Authority Group in 2012 and a Project office. For more information about our work see our joint local authority page on the Suffolk Coastal website.
Accommodation Campus report
Following the EDF Energy Stage Two public consultation and Suffolk County Council's ask that EDF review potential alternative sites for the Accommodation Campus, the County Council commissioned an independent report as our contribution to this review.
Read the Accomodation Campus report (PDF, 4.5MB).
Contact details
Email the Sizewell C project office at sizewellc@eastsuffolk.gov.uk.