7 months ago
1568
Nothing represents England so much as its oaks, so thought Victorian poet Alfred Lord Tennyson who eulogised the hardy tree in his work The Oak as representing the spirit of this nation’s steadfast people.
Alfred would therefore to be as sad as the UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities to hear that two of the nation’s hardy ancient specimens located in the splendid county of Suffolk are under immediate threat of destruction at the hands of the dastardly demolitioners employed to carry out site clearance work for the Sizewell C nuclear power plant project.
Five nearby trees have been saved, but two remain endangered and need your help.
Mandy Beaumont, resident of the neighbouring village of Middleton who is leading the campaign to save the trees, has just today issued a plea for protestors to assemble tomorrow 2 October at 2.30pm at the site of the oaks, just down from the current junction of the B1125 with the B1122.
We are happy to promote Mandy’s appeal, and we have reproduced this below.
If you are unable to make the protest, you can also make your feelings known by sending an email this week to the Sizewell C project office at info@sizewellc.com
If you would like to hear more from the campaign, please email the Stop Sizewell C team at info@stopsizewellc.org to give them your consent to pass your contact details to Mandy Beaumont who is leading this campaign. (We understand that Mandy will not share your email address with anyone or use it for any other purpose than to inform you about this issue).
The NFLAs are grateful to Alison Downes at Stop Sizewell C for sending across Mandy’s media release and a photo from Nigel Smith of the two oaks under threat.
Alison has advised that to date an estimated 22,600 trees have already been butchered to progress the likely most expensive and unneeded nuclear power project in history – but that felling season has started again.
Please help save two of the dwindling few remaining by turning up on site to demonstrate and / or by sending a protest email.
Ends://..For more information please email NFLA Secretary Richard Outram at richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
SIZEWELL C DEVELOPMENT THREATENING ANCIENT OAKS AND SMALL RURAL VILLAGES 6 MILES AWAY
There is considerable heat building following recent headlines in local press about the felling of mature oaks in the rural village of Middleton, Suffolk due to Sizewell C Nuclear Power Station [SZC]’s plans to develop road layouts. To add insult to injury the work will also cause this rural road (B1125) to become a rat-run, overwhelmed by ~2500 vehicles each way, every day – akin to London levels of congestion. It would appear that the often-cited ‘lessons learned’ have in fact not been heeded from the building of Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station! Locals are feeling misled and betrayed.
As a result, plans are afoot to have a demonstration this Thursday, 2nd October, 2.30pm at the site of the oaks, just down from the current junction of the B1125 with the B1122.
We would welcome media in attendance and are happy to guide you to the site if you are able to get to Manor House, IP17 3NS for 2.15pm.
BACKGROUND:
It all began in early September when Middleton residents living on the B1125 received a letter from SZC stating the road would be closed for 5 days w/c 6/10 for “vegetation clearance”. After repeatedly pressing the Sizewell Leiston office for details they were eventually shocked to discover that a whole line of mature (~150yrs old) oaks were within the approved SZC ‘works boundary’ because they would compromise sight lines required for road changes. Residents had no idea this was on the cards and anger started to build up. The press got involved and the BBC and local press picked up the story. Social media ramped up.
In response, SZC changed their plans and stated they would now ‘only’ remove 2 of the oaks. Villagers feel the need to remove any oaks at all is completely unnecessary, as are the costly road changes themselves which will duplicate road connectivity here.
Unnecessary felling of trees, especially mature oaks, is always a concern – but the major problem here is that the proposed extension of the B1125 to the Sizewell Link Road [SLR] which clearly shows that SZC expects traffic relating to the construction to use the B1125 as a route to get to the site. Throughout the whole consultation period local people were led to believe this would not be the case. The fear now is that this rural, narrow and winding road is set to become a dangerous rat-run as these proposed new roads make it a very obvious enticement to any (non-HGV tracked) traffic to use when coming to/from the north towards Leiston/Sizewell.
Sizewell C have always championed their process of consultation with local parishes – however tensions are running higher still after finer details came to light of lapses in procedural steps – resulting in some parishes being excluded from discussions and/or misled, meaning full scrutiny was never possible.
It has become clear that measures thought to discourage use of the B1125 are actually inadequate attempts to mitigate the impacts of this road becoming an accepted route to/ from the north. If the projected traffic on the B1125 justifies bypasses for some villages, then the same is needed for Westleton and Middleton – the volume of traffic will be the same. Indeed it is arguable that the amount of pedestrian crossing, especially by vulnerable pedestrians, will be greater in Westleton with its Post Office & Café on the roadside, than anywhere else between Blythburgh and the construction site.
People are fearing for their safety – many turned out at a Parish Council meeting on Monday night in Westleton where East Suffolk Council was represented by Deputy Leader Paul Ashton and Suffolk County Council was represented by Councillor Richard Smith. The two Parish Councils of Westleton and Middleton agreed to work together, pressing for the already requested PAUSE in the removal of oaks scheduled for next week.
However, Marjorie Barnes (SZC) earlier on Monday sent a message implying the work would still go ahead regardless.
Locals feel it’s only right that there is full scrutiny by all relevant parties, and this would necessitate pausing before 6th October. The rural B1125 becoming a major rat-run route to site is the opposite of what was intended by the construction of the Sizewell Link Road and locals are feeling both misled and betrayed.
