What Happens Next?
Everyone in the village responded magnificently to our call to action over the 3 November deadline for submissions to National Grid Ventures (NGV). Thank you! However, the fight does not end here.
Over the coming months, NGV will be considering all the responses they have received from all 4 proposed LionLink landfall locations on the Suffolk coast. They will also be conducting various environmental surveys and preparing an Environmental Impact Assessment. Eventually, probably sometime later in 2024 or early in 2025, NGV will choose which of the 4 options is their preferred option for the landfall – Reydon, Walberswick, Dunwich or Aldeburgh.
At the same time decisions are being made on other projects on the Suffolk coast which could affect the progress of the LionLink, especially the SeaLink project and the proposed substation at Friston. The campaign group Suffolk Energy Action Solutions (SEAS) has taken a Judicial review against the Friston substation. If they are successful, it could be a major setback to the whole LionLink project.
Since the end of the non-statutory LionLink consultation, WALL has been considering what we should do next and how best to keep up the pressure on the decision-makers to not make Walberswick the preferred choice but consider instead the proposal to create an offshore grid and bring the LionLink cable onshore at a brownfield site, like Bradwell, not on the Suffolk coast.
Our current thoughts include:
Setting up an environmental citizen’s action group encouraging people in the village to record sightings of flora and fauna to gain evidence that we can use to challenge NGV’s own environmental assessments. We are working up the best way we can to coordinate and record the sightings.
Keeping the people of Walberswick up to date with developments.
Potentially another round of lobbying - we’ll let you know when the timing is right and who best to contact. Currently, we are planning to lobby Ofgem but there will be others as the politics and wider energy discussions evolve.
Continuing to raise wider awareness of the threat to Walberswick and the Heritage Coast.
Working with organisations such as SEAS, SASES, RAID and others that are also campaigning against LionLInk and related energy infrastructure projects in Suffolk.
Above all, to be ready - financially and organisationally - as a village to fight for Walberswick if we are chosen as the preferred LionLink option. The fund-raising that we have already done should cover the costs that we have already incurred on posters, leaflets etc; but we will need more funding in the future. Please visit the WALL fund-raising page (link) for how best to support the campaign