Planning Inspectorate completes its work on Sizewell C
Despite the size and complexity of the Sizewell C proposal, by law the Planning Inspectorate is given only 6 months to complete its analysis of the planning application. In all, they held approximately a week's worth of Open Floor Hearings plus 15 Issue Specific Hearings on areas of concern with the last being related to the fact that there is no source of potable water during construction nor during the proposed 60 years of plant operation. A record breaking 4204 documents were submitted to the Inspectorate. This compares to 1,182 documents in total for Hinkley Point C. This is a reflection of both the level of public opposition to Sizewell C as well as the environmental, transport and housing difficulties of trying to build at the Sizewell site compared to at Hinkley Point.
The Planning Inspectorate has up to 3 months to send its recommendation to the Business Secretary. Thereafter, the Secretary of State has 3 months to make a decision. Even if the Secretary of State were to support it, there is still a £20 billion plus financing hole that has to filled, so there is still lots of time and opportunity to stop this project.
For those interested in more details and what can be done, please follow the link to the Stop Sizewell C website (note: this is externally hosted, so opens in a new window)