Sizewell C boss 'optimistic' it will get go-ahead

The head of a multi-billion pounds project to build a new nuclear power station says she is "very optimistic" a final go-ahead will be given to the scheme this week.

Julia Pyke, the joint managing director of Sizewell C in Suffolk, told BBC Politics East she is hoping for an announcement when the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves unveils her Spending Review on Wednesday.

She said construction of the new power station was expected to create 10,000 jobs and fund a new post-16 college in the nearby town of Leiston, along with other infrastructure projects in the area.

But there was fierce opposition on Saturday at a demonstration calling on the government to reject the scheme.

Ms Pyke, who has been working on the project for 10 years, told Politics East that she would "really like to see the go-ahead for Sizewell C".

"Obviously we are very optimistic, because it's a great thing for this country and a great thing for this region."

She added that the nuclear plant was needed by the nation because "we want energy security. We want to wean ourselves off gas".

The project is expected to be jointly owned by the British government and the French state-owned energy giant EDF, and would be funded by taxpayers and private investors.

She said the taxpayer contribution would be funded by adding around £1 a month to energy bills, but she argued that once operational, the new power station would save consumers between £1bn and £1.5bn a year.

"It will have been cheaper to have built it than not to have built it," she said.

But there is opposition to the scheme.

On Saturday, about 300 protesters braved the bad weather to demonstrate on the beach near Sizewell B.

Organisers said the rally was "to grieve for our beloved Suffolk and urge ministers to think again about splashing the cash on this slow, expensive folly".

Alison Downes, director of Stop Sizewell C, said pre-construction work had already changed the area dramatically.

"Anybody visiting Suffolk for the first time in a year or so is going to be enormously shocked," she said.

"Local people say to me all the time just how devastated they feel at seeing old oak trees, seeing long swathes of hedgerows and vegetation, being chopped down.

"The local economy has been seriously impacted. Tourists are staying away."

She also questioned how many of the jobs being created at the site would go to locals.

Julia Pyke told Politics East she would never deny that it was inconvenient to have a big construction project on your doorstep - but said Sizewell C would do everything it could to minimise disruption.

She said the project hoped to mitigate against increased traffic by having 60% of materials brought to the site by rail or sea.

Asked about claims that early construction work was already putting off tourists from visiting the area, she said: "The power station site is in Leiston, it's not in Aldeburgh and it's not in Southwold.

"It's quite a contained area. Our experience of having built Hinkley Point C (nuclear power station in Somerset) is that actually tourism increases."

She said Sizewell C was contributing to a tourism fund and there was a legal commitment to a third of the workforce coming from the local area.

Sizewell was highlighted by the government as being suitable for a future nuclear power station in 2010.

There have been two power stations at Sizewell already - Sizewell A, which opened in the 1960s and shut in 2006, and Sizewell B, which opened in the 1990s and is still in operation.

The Labour government and previous Conservative administrations have committed £6.4bn to Sizewell to help with start up costs.

Labour, like the Conservatives, believes more nuclear power will help Britain become energy self-sufficient.

There are still questions over where the private finance for Sizewell C will come from, but ministers and EDF insist there are plenty of potential investors and they are close to finalising an agreement.

BBC Politics East will be broadcast on Sunday 8 June at 10:00 GMT on BBC One in the East of England, and will be available after broadcast on BBC iPlayer.

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