Public consultation to open for power cable project

19 December 2025

Alice CunninghamSuffolk

News image — The planning of LionLink is reaching its final stages

PA Media Two offshore wind turbines in the sea on a sunny day. A ship is in the distance. — The planning of LionLink is reaching its final stages

People are being encouraged to share their views on plans to build energy infrastructure for cabling between the UK and the Netherlands.

The LionLink project from National Grid would see the power line connect the two countries' electricity grids and an offshore windfarm.

Cables would reach land at Walberswick, Suffolk, with a converter station built near Saxmundham, connecting to a substation at Friston.

Suffolk County Council urged residents to share their thoughts on the project when the statutory consultation opens on 13 January.

National Grid said the project would "play an important role in reducing the UK's reliance on fossil fuels and supporting the UK government's objectives to create a secure, reliable, and affordable energy supply for UK households".

The planning of the project is reaching its final stages before an expected application for a development consent order is submitted in 2026.

Along with the written details, there will be five public information exhibitions in Saxmundham, Southwold, Hinton, Westleton and Yoxford.

The consultation closes on 10 March.

Jo Thewlis/BBC Richard Rout smiles at the camera. He has short brown hair and wears a brown jacket with a blue shirt underneath. He is standing in front of a patch of grass with a bungalow behind him. — Richard Rout from Suffolk County Council said it was the final chance for people to have their say on the project

'Exhausted'

Richard Rout, the county council's cabinet member in charge of nationally significant infrastructure projects, said it was "imperative" local communities engaged in the consultation.

He said it was the "final chance to influence the design, the routing, and ultimately the need for the project, before the application is submitted".

"I completely understand that some communities are exhausted – on a constantly moving conveyor belt of responding to consultation after consultation, for project after project," he said.

"Much of which could have been mitigated if there was better coordination across all the huge infrastructure projects on Suffolk's doorstep.

"That is something that the county council has been calling for years, lobbying government and project promoters. In this case, coordination between National Grid's own projects, LionLink and Sea Link."

National Grid's separate Sea Link project would similarly see energy cables linking the power grids in Suffolk and Kent and its development consent order application was submitted in April.