Nuclear plant 'building relationships' through arts

Sizewell C is proposed for the Suffolk Coast, close to existing Sizewell B power station

A planned nuclear power plant said it was trying to "build good relationships" with the community through a creative arts programme.

Sizewell C, which is proposed for the Suffolk coast, has announced the programme for the nearby town of Leiston.

Julia Pyke, its joint managing director, said it wanted to "offer things that make life better" in recognition of the nuisance caused by its construction.

However, campaign group Stop Sizewell C said there was "considerable irony" in its plans.

Julia Pyke said Sizewell C was "offering things that are fun"

Sizewell C is hosting a "Come and Sing" event held at Pro Corda, Leiston Abbey, on Saturday.

It will also appoint three "artists in residence" as part of its creative arts programme providing free, accessible and sustainable events and initiatives for the community and schools.

"We're part of the community and so part of that involves getting to know people, building good relationships and offering things which are fun," said Ms Pyke.

"We fully accept that building something like a power station comes with a degree of nuisance to people... we want to offer things that make life better."

Photographs taken by campaigner Alison Downes featured in the Stop Sizewell C exhibition

Last month Stop Sizewell C held an exhibition at the Lookout in Aldeburgh as a "call to action", showing how the environment around the proposed site and how it could be changed by the power plant.

Alison Downes, campaigner for Stop Sizewell C, said: "Suffolk's creative and cultural richness is intimately linked to its unique landscape and wildlife so there is considerable irony in Sizewell C's plans.

"Will their proposed artist, poet and writer in residence be free to produce work that highlights the environmental damage, the traffic and the negative community impacts of Sizewell C?

"If not, it will be a censored, sanitised output that is the antithesis of artistic expression"