Villagers fear being evacuated over drilling noise

Residents of an idyllic coastal village have been told they may need to leave their homes for up to eight days because of drilling noises if new cables are installed nearby.

At a council meeting on Tuesday, it was revealed that people in Walberswick, in Suffolk, could be evacuated for a short time, as well as endure weeks of drilling and vibrations, as a result of the LionLink project.

The village, which is home to film director Richard Curtis and his broadcaster wife Emma Freud, has a reputation as a celebrity haven.

Author Esther Freud is also believed to have a home nearby and many other celebrities, including Keira Knightley and Ed Sheeran, have been spotted there.

National Grid Ventures, which is in charge of the project, has tried to allay concerns, saying it does not anticipate residents needing to relocate.

But villagers are not convinced.

The LionLink project aims to bring electricity generated by an offshore wind farm to the UK and the Netherlands.

The cables would make landfall at Walberswick, just off Stocks Lane, which is why engineers will need to drill in some instances through the night.

David Riches, from the Walberswick Against LionLink campaign group, has lived in the village for five years.

"We're absolutely appalled," he says.

"You cannot have a major drilling rig going out to sea, which we understand has to work 24 hours a day, coming out so close to the centre of a village. There's no precedent for it anywhere.

"We're talking about a major, major piece of infrastructure being forced into somewhere which is totally inappropriate."

As for the prospect of being evacuated he says: "I'm horrified.

"It's going to be intolerable. Let alone the vibration, the dust. It's the effect on the wildlife and the beautiful natural Site of Special Scientific Interest-protected environment, which we thought was sacrosanct.

"It's an obscenity."

Clare Thomas has also lived in Walberswick for five years. She believes the estimate of eight days' evacuation may be conservative.

"We are surrounded by people's houses with a lot of elderly people. We have two shops, we have two pubs, we have gift shops.

"If these close, it's going to be devastating for the village. So it's not just people's wellbeing and being able to sleep at night, it's the whole livelihood of the village."

Thomas says she is a supporter of campaign group Greenpeace and that green energy is very dear to her heart.

"But this is the wrong place."

Robin McLean, the owner of a shop and tearoom in Walberswick, is worried about the impact of the drilling on his business – particularly outside of the holiday season.

"Anything that is going to discourage people from coming to Walberswick is going to make a big dent in our business," he says.

"If it's a grey day in November and people have to go through all these roadworks into an industrial landscape, past the drilling of the boreholes and then find themselves on the beach with a constant hum of machinery behind them, it's not so enticing."

Reggie Oliver, who lives just outside Saxmundham, says he often visits Walberswick.

He empathises with villagers and worries about more traffic on the roads as a result of the project.

"It's quite alarming. It seems to be all change around here and I just want it to end because one's constantly finding that roads around here have been blocked up and you have to go all around the houses to find your way back to home."

Ian Collins from nearby Southwold says residents there are hugely relieved that the pipeline will bypass them.

"We're really sorry for Walberswick. They're actually turning people against alternative energy and we all need to support it. But this is a real blunderbuss."

The idea of people being evacuated, he says, is too much.

"It's actually outrageous," he comments.

"And it's such a peaceful part of the world and it's not just for locals because people come here for the peace and quiet and these wonderful views.

"Having to evacuate your house? This is like World War Two!"

At the Suffolk County Council cabinet meeting on Tuesday, councillors unanimously agreed to object to the LionLink project.

Afterwards, Conservative Richard Rout, the council's lead for major infrastructure projects, said National Grid had told them about seven or eight continuous days of drilling.

"LionLink are saying it may very well be best for residents in the area to be displaced and stay somewhere else during that period," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"This just points to the fact that this is the wrong place for the project to come ashore."

But a National Grid spokesperson said: "We recognise the concerns raised in relation to potential disturbance and based on our current assessments, we do not expect residents to need to relocate as a result of activity at the landfall."

They added: "In other interconnector projects, such as North Sea Link, noise was carefully managed and monitored, and residents were able to remain in their homes throughout landfall installation in residential areas."

They pointed out that "final construction methods" and working hours were "still being developed".

A consultation period, taking views from residents, is open until 10 March.

"We are committed to putting the necessary mitigation measures in place to manage any noise impacts on residents," they continued.

As part of the project, the cables would lead to a converter station covering six hectares (15 acres) near Saxmundham.

The company's construction director, Gareth Burden, speaking at one of a series of recent public consultation events in Suffolk, said 84% of LionLink's infrastructure was offshore.

It would power 2.5 million homes in the UK, he added.

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