Experts are to be employed to see how businesses in Suffolk can best benefit from the £14 billion Sizewell C project if it is given the go-ahead.
EDF Energy says the new nuclear power station will create 25,000 jobs over a decade (with 5,600 workers at its peak) and will generate £100 million a year for the local economy during its construction. More than 1,000 businesses in the region have already signed up with EDF to be kept informed of opportunities.
Geoff Holdcroft, cabinet member with responsibility for economic development at Suffolk Coastal District Council, said: “Following our response to EDF Energy’s Stage 2 Consultation on a new nuclear power station at Sizewell at the beginning of February, EDF has been very quiet, as it digests and analyses all the responses received.
Since then, this council’s Sizewell C Task Group has met to discuss how best this authority can prepare itself to engage with EDF in the run-up to the Stage 3 public consultation.
“This council, together with Suffolk County Council in partnership with Suffolk Chamber of Commerce and New Anglia LEP, will shortly be commissioning the Sizewell C Economic Assessment.
“This will identify how local partners can best exploit the economic benefits of the proposed development in areas such as new business formation, maximising opportunities for the local supply chain, inward investment and skills development.
“EDF received more than 1,000 responses to its last consultation, completed earlier this year, and work is taking place to analyse these as part of the on-going development of the proposals.”