Update on NGV’s Groundworks Investigation
If we stop Sea Link, it helps us to stop LionLink
If you haven’t already done so, please do register your objections as an interested party to the Sea Link project using this easy to follow guide. It’s very important that we as a community challenge Sea Link because the Sea Link planning application includes a request to build infrastructure for the use of LionLink. So if we stop Sea Link, it helps us to try to stop LionLink. Many thanks for your support.
Update on NGV’s Groundworks Investigation.
You may recall that last year NGV submitted a proposal to East Suffolk Council to conduct ‘Groundwork Investigations’ in relation to the LionLink project. However, because of restrictions laid down by Natural England/ESC they were limited to doing these in September/October. Consequently, they only completed some of their investigations at the time.
NGV have now submitted follow up proposals to ESC to complete their GI works. Apparently, these proposals were submitted in late March but someone only picked up on them quite recently.
The proposals are contained in two documents. The first (Stage 1) mainly deals with the purpose and methodology of the remaining GI works. This includes more boreholes and trial pits, mainly along the cable corridor outside the village but also seismic surveys on/around Manor Field and the beach, topographical surveys, etc,etc
The second document (Stage 2) really deals with the potential impact of these works on the protected habitats. In particular it addresses the concerns that Natural England raised previously about the impacts on ‘vegetated shingle’ on the beach. Natural England have again raised their concerns in this regard in a letter dated 23 April 2025.
Not surprisingly, in their Stage 2 report, NGV assert that the GI works will have ‘no adverse impacts’ on the protected habitats.
If anyone wishes to look at the documents they can be found on the East Suffolk Council planning portal:
LionLink – what happens after the public meeting?
There was an amazing turnout of villagers and supporters at the Public Meeting in the Village Hall that WALL organised on 8 March with an estimated 120 people attending. Many of those people also turned up at the ‘drop-in’ session that National Grid Ventures (NGV) Lion Link organized on 15 March in the Village Hall (and the one in Saxmundham on 14 March). However, most people found the LionLink display boards in the drop-in session provided little more information than they knew already and the NGV staff present equally were little help. It seemed just to be a PR exercise.
It is likely that having selected Walberswick as their preferred landfall site NGV are now preparing the Preliminary Environmental Information Report (PEIR) on LionLink. In this report NGV should provide a more detailed explanation of the LionLink project including construction methodologies and timetable, and the likely impacts on the local environment. NGV have stated that this will be published ‘in the Autumn’. We believe that this is likely to be at some point in October. This will be followed by an 8-week Statutory Consultation. This will be a critical point for everyone affected by LionLink to make representations to NGV and raise their concerns. One of the key areas of concern will be the impacts on local wildlife.
Phase2 Walberswick Wildlife Watch Survey – 2025
The impact of LionLink on local ecology (Habitats and wildlife) will be a key area of contention when we get to the next stage of the project. In its PEIR report NGV will contend that there are ‘no adverse impacts’ on the protected species in the designated habitats around Manor Field or along the cable route. WALL, along with expert advisers will be pulling together the results of its survey work and other information to show that there is a real risk of ‘adverse impact’ that NGV will not be able to mitigate. The surveys of birds, bats and reptiles that WALL carried out last year provided a baseline of data. However, Phase 2 of the survey in 2025 will be targeted more on the habitats immediately around the landfall site in Manor Field and along the proposed cable route towards the A12.
WALL has purchased 6 birdsong meters which WALL volunteers will be deploying shortly at various key locations around the marshes adjacent to the landfall site and the cable corridor to the west of the Village, along with a number of bat detectors and wildlife cameras. If you see any of these devices please do not touch or interfere with them! In addition, WALL is considering commissioning professional surveyors to conduct specific surveys on birds and invertebrates. WALL continues to log pedestrian use of the footpaths around the proposed landfall site but, sadly, one of the pedestrian footfall counters that WALL had installed near Manor Field was vandalized a few weeks ago. However, it will be replaced shortly. WALL won’t be deterred by wanton vandalism whoever was the culprit…!
The data from all these detectors and surveys will be collated and used to argue against LionLink’s suggestion that bringing the LionLink interconnector ashore in Walberswick will have no adverse impact on wildlife habitats or the community.
If you are interested in helping out in any capacity with any of our campaign work please email us at info@wall-update.org
We would also urge all residents also to improve their knowledge of local birdlife by downloading the Merlin bird identification app.
https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org
When you are out and about, anywhere around Walberswick, and hear or see birds such marsh harriers, bearded tits, nightjars, woodlarks, bitterns or others, you can easily ‘log’ these sightings on another app called ‘iRecord’:
This database collates all wildlife sightings and we will be drawing on the data it contains in our campaign.
David Pelly, on behalf of WALL