Suffolk Wildlife Trust and the RSPB have spent a gruelling six months engaging in the Sizewell C examination. If Sizewell C is built, it would sit slap bang on the border of RSPB Minsmere nature reserve, home to over 6000 types of animals, plants and fungi; potentially detrimentally impacting the wildlife at this nationally and internationally important nature reserve, as well as at Sizewell Marshes SSSI, and the wider Suffolk coast and beyond.
Our charities, alongside other interested parties, and the 104,836 people who supported our Love Minsmere campaign, have strengthened nature’s voice in the planning process. Through this support and pressure, we feel we have made some positive progress with EDF Energy regarding some of our environmental concerns. For example, rare natterjack toads will have greater protection, as will the special birds like the stone curlew which nest on the heathland at Minsmere.
However, there remain significant concerns and our organisations believe that if the build goes ahead, there could be serious detrimental impacts on wildlife. EDF Energy are still proposing to destroy an area the size of eight football pitches at protected wildlife site, Sizewell Marshes SSSI. Due to the rare nature of the habitat, it is extremely difficult to recreate. Any attempts to replace these special habitats such as fen meadow, even if eventually successful, will not be available to the wildlife that calls it home for many years, when it is too late, and the damage has already been done. There is also a significant risk that the development will change the amount of high-quality water available for rare plants, meaning they may die out over time.
We also remain worried that the power station’s cooling water system could cause millions of fish and other small marine creatures to die each year, which would also reduce food supplies for sea birds. The noise and visual impacts over the ten or more years of construction of Sizewell C could impact ducks and geese, like gadwall and shoveler who choose Minsmere and Sizewell Marshes to raise their families and are joined by white-fronted geese to spend the winter there.
With so many questions remaining unanswered, and due to a very high likelihood the environment will be harmed, the RSPB and Suffolk Wildlife Trust remain united against Sizewell C.