Activists want to know public opinion on Sea Link power line

Environmental campaigners want the public to have their say on plans to install a power cable linking Kent to Suffolk.

National Grid’s Sea Link project involves laying 90 miles (145 km) of undersea cable along the coast near Sandwich in Kent and between Thorpeness and Aldeburgh in Suffolk.

Following the end of public consultation in December 2023, changes were made and citizens now have until August 11 to express their views.

However, Kent Wildlife Trust (KWT) remains concerned about the impact the route will have on the bay’s wildlife and the Minister Marshes.

In December, the foundation launched the Rethink Sea Link campaign, calling on the National Grid to consider alternative routes for the cable.

The Sea Link project has been described as a “disaster” by the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

KWT says it “supports” renewable energy solutions, but not at the expense of wildlife.

The charity also supports the Save Minster Marshes Campaign, which is concerned about the impact of the Sea Link project on the Minster Marshes, described as an “important wildlife corridor”.

“Unspeakable Injustice”

Emma Waller, planning and policy officer at the foundation, said: “We support renewable energy, but we are in the middle of a climate crisis and a biodiversity crisis and we cannot sacrifice one for the other.

“National Grid has put forward several alternative routes but the one they have chosen is causing untold harm to our natural world and we are asking them to reconsider their alternative options and rethink Sea Link.”

Ms Waller highlighted the marine life in the bay, which is “home to the largest seal population in Kent”, but added that “no physical surveys of these precious marine mammals have been carried out”.

She added that “much ecological research is either incomplete or conducted at a desk.”

East Thanet MP Polly Billington met with board representatives.

She said she was “very concerned” about the lack of transparency from National Grid in the decision-making process and selection of this site “which is so valuable to the environment”.

National Grid, which said last month it had made some changes to its plans ahead of submitting a planning application, has been approached for comment.

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