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Bramford residents praise cable work for North Sea windfarm

Scottish Power Renewables Offshore wind farmScottish Power Renewables
ScottishPower Renewables began construction on East Anglia Three in July 2022

Residents have praised an energy company for the environmental planning of its latest project.

East Anglia Three will see 95 turbines at an offshore windfarm, 43 miles (69km) off the coast of Suffolk.

Underground cables will carry electricity onshore at Bawdsey, and transfer it to a converter station at Bramford, near Ipswich.

"I think it's been thought through well," said Donald Golding, 70, who lives in Bramford.

"They've done a good amount of planning in making sure the actual route from Bawdsey to Bramford doesn't impact on us too much."

ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) - the company responsible for the project - was granted planning approval in 2017, and construction began in July 2022.

ScottishPower Renewables Map showing Bawdsey to Bramford cable route serving East Anglia ThreeScottishPower Renewables

The onshore cable route runs for about 23 miles (37km) around the north of Ipswich.

Shannon Eustace/BBC Public information day in BramfordShannon Eustace/BBC
ScottishPower Renewables are running a series of public information sessions for local residents

The cable ducts were laid six years ago, when SPR built its first project off the region's coast, called East Anglia One.

An information event about the construction of the converter station has been held at Bramford's Loraine Victory Hall and was attended by residents.

Lillian Power, 79, said: "I quite approve of wind power. This project seems to be working extremely hard to not impact the environment too much, so it's a good thing as far as I'm concerned."

Shannon Eustace/BBC Michael RudkinShannon Eustace/BBC
Bramford resident Michael Rudkin said he was "in favour" of wind power

Michael Rudkin, 66, agreed: "I'm climbing in favour of the wind power coming this way. I don't think the impact is going to be as severe as I thought it was going to be.

"What they explained was that there's going to be some [traffic] for a while and it will actually decrease quite significantly once the building is finished, so I'm not seeing a big problem."

Edward Rees, the project's community liaison officer, said: "Local people and communities are at the heart of everything we do, so events like this really matter and we hope to see as many attendees as possible."

The power company is holding a series of information events in villages along the cable route until 14 February, including Burstall, Bawdsey, Westerfield, Waldringfield, Playford and Martlesham.

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