Campaigners opposing Sizewell C nuclear plant lose appeal

It's planned for the Suffolk coast

Sizewell C
Author: Sian RochePublished 20th Dec 2023
Last updated 20th Dec 2023

Campaigners opposed to the building of a new nuclear power plant near Sizewell in Suffolk have lost the latest stage of a legal battle with the Government.

Protest group Together Against Sizewell C objects to a decision, made in 2022 by then business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, to give the development the green light.

The group had mounted a Court of Appeal challenge after losing a High Court fight earlier this year.

But three appeal judges dismissed the group's appeal on Wednesday.

Sir Keith Lindblom, Lady Justice Andrews and Lord Justice Lewis had considered arguments at a Court of Appeal hearing in London in November.

Lawyers representing the group told judges the central issue relates to whether a "development consent order" was lawful "without any assessment" of the environmental impacts of an "essential" fresh water supply.

The group had taken legal action against Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Claire Coutinho and Sizewell C Ltd.

Lawyers representing the two defendants said the appeal should be dismissed.

Together Against Sizewell C argued at a High Court hearing earlier this year that the Government failed to assess possible environmental impacts, including the impact of the water supply, and did not consider "alternative solutions" to meeting energy and climate change objectives.

The Government argued that it had made "legitimate planning judgments".

A High Court judge - Mr Justice Holgate - had dismissed Together Against Sizewell C's challenge.

The three appeal judges said, in a written ruling published online, that Mr Justice Holgate had not "erred" in ruling against Together Against Sizewell C.

French energy giant EDF, which is due to develop the plant, has said Sizewell C is expected to generate low-carbon electricity to supply six million homes.

Together Against Sizewell C, jointly with Suffolk Coastal Friends of the Earth and Stop Sizewell C have issued a joint statement about the Court of Appeal’s decision:

‘We are dismayed by this decision and struggle to understand how the potable water supply that £30billion+ Sizewell C is totally reliant on for its 60 years of operation can be considered lawfully, or indeed rationally, as a separate project, particularly as its absence caused the panel of 5 expert planning inspectors to caution against Sizewell C being awarded planning consent.’

On the wider issue of the government's policy the campaign groups said, ‘Government seems hell-bent on continuing this reckless and blinkered rush towards the cliff edge of deeper national bankruptcy and continued environmental damage in its vain attempt to reach net zero carbon by 2050 through betting taxpayers' money on nuclear power. It will not work. The real tragedy, however, is that we’ll all have to go down with the nuclear ship as the policy unravels and sinks over the next 20 years and as the climate change crisis deepens.

The Office of Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency have the power to stop Sizewell C: we can only encourage them to step up, flex their regulatory muscles and call Sizewell C out for the polluting, unnecessary and wasteful white elephant it is and refuse to licence it. We call on external investors to shun it. The alternative is that we have to watch the slow and painful demise of the government's misguided policy while climate change delivers its promise to be an existential threat to the planet. Our fight for the soul of Suffolk will continue and we are in discussions with our legal team to consider our plans moving forward.’

Ministers have said the multibillion-pound project will create 10,000 highly-skilled jobs, with its go-ahead being welcomed by unions and the nuclear industry.

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