A Green candidate is calling for a Suffolk Coastal beauty spot to be designated as a national park.
Suffolk Coastal prospective parliamentary candidate Julian Cusack wants Natural England to consider changing the designation of Suffolk Coast and Heaths National Landscape - which used to be called an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) - after the government announced it would be creating a new English national park.
"Now would be a good time to think about setting one up in the east of the country," he said.
The Green Party complains the area has "come under attack" from a proliferation of major energy projects which are causing "untold damage" to sensitive habitats and wildlife.
This includes digging trenches through the AONB for subsea cable landfalls, cable corridors and converter stations relating to offshore wind farms and interconnectors.
"This vision for a semi-industrialised future for the East Suffolk coast is at odds with the former vision of a ‘Heritage Coast’ aimed at hosting a valuable tourism sector while meeting the AONB objectives of conserving and enhancing habitats and biodiversity," said Mr Cusack.
"Furthermore, it is in the middle of England’s East Coast wetlands which were added to the UK’s Tentative List of World Heritage sites earlier this year recognising them as being of outstanding universal value to humanity.”
Mr Cusack said the area - which measures 441km sq and includes diverse landscapes from marshes to ancient woodland - already met the "natural beauty" criteria for the park designation.
"We believe that it also meets the test of providing opportunities for open-air recreation.
"With an over-riding obligation to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of a National Park, we believe such a designation would help shift the focus back from ‘Energy Coast’ to ‘Heritage Coast’.“
Mr Cusack - who lives near Saxmundham and is chairman of Middleton Parish Council as well as chairman of Suffolk Coastal Green Party - is a chartered accountant and works in the insurance sector. He has also created a regenerative farming business near Kelsale.
If it became a park, it would be the second smallest, said the Green Party.
The Broads National Park was designated in 1989 and covers 303km sq. The New Forest National Park was designated in 2005 and covers 570 km sq.
The most recently (2010) designated National Park was South Downs which measures 1624km sq.
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