Two windfarms off Suffolk coast given planning permission

Permission to build two windfarms off the Suffolk coast has been granted by the government.

The development will have 142 turbines which ScottishPower Renewables said could power about 1.4 million homes.

Some, including Dame Joanna Lumley, said the onshore infrastructure in Suffolk meant the windfarms were "anything but green".

But the government say the need for energy creation outweighed the negative aspects of the development.

The two proposed farms would have power cables that would come to shore in the Thorpeness area, just north of Aldeburgh.

The sites, named East Anglia One North and East Anglia Two, will also include a large industrial substation at the village of Friston.

They were granted development consent by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Kwasi Kwarteng, following recommendations from the Planning Inspectorate.

In his decision the minster said he had considered the "substantial contribution [the windfarms] would make towards the delivery of renewable energy".

Local campaigners have been unhappy about the onshore development and 17 people, including actor Ralph Fiennes and comedian Griff Rhys Jones, signed a letter stating the windfarms were "destructive".

The signatories said it would be preferential to "pivot to offshore integrated cabling to brownfield sites".

ScottishPower Renewables said it would make "considered efforts to protect the local environment and minimise the potential onshore impacts of the construction programme".

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson backed offshore wind, telling MPs: "Offshore wind - I stress offshore wind - has massive potential."

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