Largest Sizewell C Forum of the year offers insight into project’s progress

The largest Sizewell C Forum of the year took place at Trinity Park in Ipswich yesterday, offering local communities an opportunity to hear the latest news and developments from the nuclear power project on the East Suffolk coast.

There’s been significant progress at Sizewell C already this year, with the project entering the construction phase in January, buying the land on which it is building the power station in March, and bulk earthworks are soon to begin.

The event was open to the public to hear updates on all the key activity of the year, as well as an insight into what’s next for the project, with presentations from across the Sizewell C team, including Joint Managing Director, Julia Pyke, and Site Delivery Director, Damian Leydon.

Attendees included representatives from The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), the Environment Agency, Suffolk Association Local Councils, Suffolk County Council and East Suffolk Council, with over 140 town and parish councils invited from across East Suffolk.

There was also an update from Suffolk Community Foundation Chief Executive, Melanie Craig, who spoke about The Sizewell C Community Fund, which offers £23m spread across the construction phase for community projects, and which will begin inviting applications later this year.

Julia Pyke, Joint Managing Director, Sizewell C, said: “Sizewell C is a project of national importance – it’s going to provide low-carbon power for six million homes for at least sixty years – but East Suffolk is the project’s home, our host community, and it’s really important to us that we hold these forums so we can continue to listen to local voices throughout the entire construction period. By doing so, we can make the many benefits of the project more accessible, and we can remain on top of the impacts we’re having locally and take action to minimise them.”

Sizewell C hosts a number of open Forums throughout the year – The Main Development Site Forum, Northern Transport Forum, and the Southern Transport Forum each run four times a year – which discuss key aspects of the project. Last night’s Sizewell C Forum, however, is the largest and provides information about the project’s progress as a whole.

Christine Abraham, independent chair of the Sizewell C Forum, said: “It was pleasing to see so many communities and organisations represented at the inaugural meeting of the SZC annual community forum, the largest of the four community forums which began in January this year.

“My role as independent chair is to ensure that the representatives attending the meeting are kept informed with the developments and progress of Sizewell C, whilst enabling and facilitating, questions and discussions around the issues that really matter to local people and organisations. The aim of all the forums is to ensure that communities benefit from the many opportunities, that any impacts are minimised, and the project is held to account on its work.”

Sizewell C is expected to be a game-changer for the East Suffolk region, with £125m spent in the local community each year during construction and around 2,600 workers to come from the local area at peak construction. Once operational, the power station will employ 900 people in high-skilled, well-paid jobs.

The project will also offer 1,500 placements over the construction phase, and has recently announced 50 work experience placements for the summer, as well as a new partnership with Project 21, which will provide five placements for people with Down’s Syndrome.

More information about the Sizewell C Forums, including agendas, minutes, and how to attend further meetings, is available on the Sizewell C website. You can also get in touch with the Community Relations Team at Sizewell Information Office in Leiston, open 9-5, Monday to Friday.  And to stay up to date on when and where works are taking place, as well as the progress of current works, the Sizewell C Works Tracker contains all the latest info.