MEMBERS of more than 20 town and parish councils surrounding Sizewell have submitted a critical collective response to proposals for a third nuclear power plant.

The Sizewell Parishes Liaison Group (SPLG), set up to encourage infrastructure and social investment from EDF Energy and other local energy developers, has sent a detailed 50-page response to pre-application consultation for two new reactors north of the Sizewell B station.

The SPLG said details of construction and cost had not been sufficiently developed to enable full consultation on the impact to local communities, labelling the document “vague and premature, and lacking in specific proposals to compensate the affected local communities”.

The first round of consultation began in November and ended on February 6 - a window the SPLG said was “unrealistically short”, adding that EDF Energy could not possibly engage with communities until the financial fundamentals of construction costing, energy pricing and the funding of decommissioning are clarified. Members called for at least two cycles of detailed consultation on traffic impact mitigation proposals before a second stage of consultation.

The SPLG called the design of Sizewell C “an irregular jumble of block type buildings, squashed together in a haphazard manner”.

The group praised EDF Energy’s proposals to encourage local people to seek employment, and its plan for off-site short term freight storage during construction, choosing the area adjacent to the existing Orwell Crossing Lorry Park on the A14 as the most appropriate location.

However, it reiterated calls for a full Four Villages Bypass and argued that the existing B1122 is not fit for purpose to take construction traffic, cars, and park and ride coaches.

That demand was seconded by Marlesford Parish Council, which has pressed for a bypass for 25 years. In response to consultation, it said Sizewell C would cause a “significant worsening of the situation”.

Meanwhile, the dedicated Four Villages Bypass group - made up of representatives from Farnham with Stratford St. Andrew, Marlesford and Little Glemham parish councils - requested additional transport information and figures, noise and air quality reports, and a modelled assessment of alternatives to a full four villages bypass. Without such information, it said, consultation was “fundamentally flawed”.

The EADT’s Bypass 4 The Villages campaign calls for an end to traffic misery on a busy stretch of the A12 from Wickham Market to the Friday Street junction at Benhall. In November, EDF said its predicted 5-15% increase in traffic along the A12 south of Sizewell was not enough to justify construction of a bypass.

A Sizewell spokeswoman said the new nuclear build team had met more than 4,000 people during consultation and that each issue raised will be considered and recorded. She added: “The feedback will be analysed and used to help develop detailed proposals which will be subject to a further stage of consultation.”