Two main parts of the consultation programme are a leaflet to be distributed to more than 19,000 homes and businesses in the local area, and a series of exhibitions that will be held in the area between 11th October and 19th October.
Notices about the SoCC have been or will be published in the local press, and copies of the SoCC have been lodged at local libraries and Mid Suffolk District Council’s (MSDC’s) office in Needham Market, as well as on our website.
Consultation with local people, businesses, and organisations is an essential part of the Development Control Order process laid out by the Planning Inspectorate for a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project. Progress Power is fully committed to proper and extensive consultation, thus ensuring that the local communities can comment and give feedback on our proposals.
In May of this year, at the Eye Community Centre, we shared our initial plans with the local community and invited their comments. Since then, we have undertaken various studies and developed our plans further and we are now ready to begin a period of public consultation next month. This statutory period of consultation runs from 3October to 7 November.
A leaflet about the project will be distributed within the next 3 weeks to homes, businesses and civic groups in the vicinity of Eye Airfield. Then in mid-October, we will hold exhibitions in five locations within 3kms of Eye Airfield. We will use these as an opportunity to ask people’s views about all aspects of the project as well as the results of our preliminary environmental assessments.
We can confirm that the electrical connection to the National Grid via a new proposed substation will be underground rather than overground.
MSDC and Suffolk County Council were formally consulted about the draft SoCC and gave their response on 14 August, and councillors of both councils were briefed on the project’s status and the local area consultation programme at the end of August.
The SOCC notice is to be published in the following local papers: Eastern Daily Press, East Anglian Daily Times, Diss Mercury and Diss Express.
