Dear all, I am writing to ask that the DCO submission be delayed until after lockdown and social distancing measures no longer in place to allow full access to information such as at re-opened libraries and access to meetings. When consulting groups are allowed to gather again,people are not encumbered by ill-health, stress , bereavement etc due to covid-19. If EDF make the submission the planning process needs to halt until the above is achievable. This is an extremely unwelcome proposal for Suffolk, East Anglia and indeed for further afield and cannot be rushed through behind closed doors. The consultation is overwhelmingly thought to be completely inadequate. All the dissenters opinions , questions, petiitions,letters etc have been quietly swept aside, an opinion shared by practically all. We have a duty to hand on the land to future generations in good shape. It is appalling to think our children and their children will be fighting exraordinary problems in years to come due to climate change, which we have brought about , and on top of that they will have large reserves of highly toxic nuclear waste( just for one example ,combined with the projected rising sea level) which will be impossible to deal with and will cause untold suffering. Overwhelmingly the people of Suffolk (and beyond) are horrified and cannot believe what is being proposed here with two untried nuclear mega-reactors. It appears EDF have a well rehearsed strategy of simply ignoring the objections and carrying on as usual. This has happened time and again for example over 1000 people collected at Minsmere last Autumn to form a huge heart overlooking the nearby proposed site. Animals/birds have to range over large interconnected areas to breed /feed successfully. This event was reported on the news and then conveniently disappeared from the radar,like many others. For these reasons, EDF has fragmented the consultation so that the vast majority of Suffolk which is opposing has been silenced. It is not necessary to subject us , East Anglia and indeed potentially London and beyond (with potential fallout) to this collosal danger and destructive project. Renewables are cheaper, quicker to build , local jobs and you can walk away in times of crisis. So many experts have plans of how we could achieve this-just one -something as simple as replacing all street lighting with LED would create huge savings in electricity.Lets move forward with the times and put Nuclear Energy behind us ,you cannot expect tax payers to bail out this dying industry. Yours sincerely, Clare Rizzo

Dear Ms Rizzo, Thank you for your email. The process for applying for a Development Consent Order (DCO) is set out in the Planning Act 2008. The timing of the application is at the discretion of the Applicant. The project page of the National Infrastructure Planning website will be updated when the application is received and when the decision on whether or not to accept the application for Examination is made. attachment 1;ipcadvice=f89bb4795f It is important to note that when an Applicant submits an application for development consent to the Planning Inspectorate that there then follows a period of up to 28 days for the Planning Inspectorate, on behalf of the Secretary of State, to decide whether or not the application meets the standards required to be accepted for Examination. The standards are set out in Section 55 of the Planning Act 2008 (as amended) and Regulations 5 and 6 of the Infrastructure Planning (Applications: Prescribed Forms and Procedure) Regulations 2009. I note you have concerns about the Applicant’s pre-application consultation, you should contact the Applicant in the first instance to enable them to address the issues. If you have contacted the Applicant but you are not satisfied that the Applicant has, or will, take account of your comments you can make your comments to the relevant local authority. The local authority can consider them as part of their Adequacy of Consultation Representation submission to the Planning Inspectorate (on behalf of the Secretary of State) at the Acceptance stage of the process. All parties are encouraged to sign up for Email Updates using the button on the project page or via the link below: attachment 2;email= Email Updates will enable parties to observe what’s happening on the application after it has been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate. Should the application be accepted for Examination, it is important to note that if parties then wish to participate in the Examination they would need to register as an Interested Party at the appropriate time during the Pre-examination stage. If parties have signed up for the Email Updates they will receive a prompt when the registration period opens (the Relevant Representation period). For further information about registering as an Interested Party please see ‘Advice Note 8.2: How to register to participate in an Examination’. attachment 3 The Advice Note explains that if the Planning Inspectorate decides to accept an application for Examination, it will then be the Applicant’s duty to advertise the Relevant Representation period and provide details about how to register to become an Interested Party. The Applicant has indicated that it will extend this registration period beyond the statutory minimum of thirty days, if the application is accepted, to allow all parties more time to review the application documents and register their interest before the start of the six month Examination stage. The Planning Inspectorate is mindful of the need to ensure both openness and fairness throughout all stages of the DCO process and will continue to highlight this in discussions with the Applicant. Finally, with regard to the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, please refer to the Planning Inspectorate’s published guidance which will be updated as the situation develops. attachment 4 I hope you find the above information helpful. Kind regards, Liam