The power of good for the community

We are taking a wide range of measures to minimise the impact of construction on local communities. We made eleven pledges to the local community when we applied for a DCO in May 2020 and have taken measures to honour these.

In the Deed of Obligation signed with Suffolk County Council and East Suffolk Council in October 2021, we agreed a £250m package to mitigate the effects of construction. It also provides funds to enhance the local environment and to support local employment and skills initiatives.

An additional £400million will be spent on physical developments to avoid, limit, mitigate or compensate for the impacts of construction. This includes £175m for road infrastructure, rail improvements, a permanent beach landing facility and additional ecology work around the Associated Development sites. These will all provide a long-term benefit to East Suffolk.

Measures we are taking to reduce the impact of construction include:

• Up to 60% of construction materials will be transported to site by rail and sea, significantly reducing the number of HGVs on local roads.
• Park and ride sites will allow commuters to use buses and will minimise traffic on local roads.
• A freight management facility will allow us to carefully schedule deliveries to and from the construction site.
• Bypass roads and a rail extension will be built to meet increased demand from the project.
• Sizewell C will remove any unnecessary infrastructure following construction, restoring the land in the process, whilst leaving all useful road and rail enhancements in place.
• Measures to reduce noise include screening, use of quieter working methods and a noise mitigation scheme for properties significantly impacted.
• A Tourism Fund has been established to ensure any potential effect on local tourism does not have economic consequences. There is little evidence to suggest that Sizewell C will have an impact on tourism in the surrounding area.
• We are exploring the use of alternative fuels (such as hydrogen and electricity) for buses, HGVs, and other construction equipment that will be used on the site.
• Lighting will be managed to limit light spill on the surrounding environment, reducing the impact on local species.
• Dust management plans will be implemented to control and minimise dust emissions.

We know we have a responsibility to local communities and to the Suffolk Heritage Coast to build Sizewell C in a way which causes as little disruption as possible.

In response to local feedback, we have improved our transport strategy and have increased the amount of material that will be delivered to site by sea and rail from 40% to 60%.

Nevertheless, building Sizewell C will require moving substantial volumes of construction material.  To do this in as sustainable a way as possible, we will follow these principles:

• Reduce the volume of material that needs to be moved away from the Sizewell C site by using it as fill or for landscaping.
• Where material must be delivered to the Sizewell C site, we will try to move it by sea or rail where practicable.
• Where delivery by road remains necessary, we will use defined routes for HGVs and systems which can monitor, manage and control the number and timing of HGV movements.

Because we have increased the amount of material that can be delivered to site by sea, we have been able to cut the number of HGVs which will be on the roads.

On the busiest days at the busiest time phase of construction, we expect a maximum number of 700 HGV movements (350 each way).

On average, we expect 500 HGVs during the busiest phase of construction (250 journeys each way).

It is important to note that the number of HGVs on the roads will change during specific phases of construction. At the start of construction, there will only be a few additional HGVs on the official HGV route, building up to a peak of 700 HGV movements (350 HGVs each way) at the busiest times.

We have been able to source more of our required material from areas with good rail and sea connections. This has given us the ability to reduce the total amount of material being moved by road to around 40%.

However, some material is just not suitable for transportation by sea and rail, both in terms of where it comes from or its characteristics.

The following infrastructure improvements are among the many measures we will put in place to manage or reduce local traffic:

• A two-village bypass for Farnham and Stratford St Andrew.
• Sizewell Link Road from the A12 south of Yoxford to a location close to the main site entrance.
• Southern Park and Ride in Hacheston with 1250 car parking spaces for workers from North Essex, Ipswich and South Suffolk.
• Northern Park and Ride at Darsham with 1250 car parking spaces for workers from Norfolk, Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth and other locations in North Suffolk.
• Freight Management Facility for 150 HGVs on the Old Felixstowe Road near the A12/A14 junction.
• Highway junction improvements
• Green Rail Route from the Saxmundham-Leiston branch line to the construction site, allowing freight to be delivered to site by rail.
• Beach Landing Facilities: a permanent BLF for very heavy items and a temporary BLF for use in advance of peak construction.