Julian Cusack, the Green Party candidate for Suffolk Coastal, is urging as many people as possible to respond directly to National Grid and reject all its options for LIONLINK, the project to bring offshore wind energy onshore in East Suffolk. The non-statutory consultation by National Grid closes on Friday 3rd November 2023.
Julian Cusack said “The consultation process is flawed. National Grid has already decided to bring electricity cables onshore across unspoilt coastline in Suffolk, to dig trenches across areas of outstanding natural beauty and scientific interest, to destroy habitats and farming land and build substations and hubs in rural communities. The only choice we are being given is the lesser of two evils – do we want to destroy the environment around Aldeburgh and Saxmundham or Southwold and Walberswick?
We urgently need a transparent review of alternatives that will protect our coastal environment and communities. A realistic and preferable option is to build an offshore grid to take the energy further down the coast and bring it onshore at brownfield sites much closer to where the energy will be consumed. There is already a precedent for this with the Nautilus project which has an option to take energy onshore at the Isle of Grain. It is a cheaper, quicker and better solution and is the method already adopted by countries like Belgium and the Netherlands.
The current plans will devastate our coasts, heaths and wetlands and damage our communities and rural economy. Responses to previous consultations have shown public opinion strongly favours offshore options with brownfield landfalls. National Grid needs to give a satisfactory explanation as to why these options are not on the table.”
If you wish to write directly to National Grid about the issues above, you can do so by emailing info@lionlink@nationalgrid.com.
