Our Heritage 2040: A New Energy for the Suffolk Coast
Our Heritage 2040: A New Energy for the Suffolk Coast
What started as an exercise in meaningful engagement between stakeholders around the development of Sizewell C has developed into a more ambitious project – exploring long-term, transformative ideas for the county and the region.
To ensure the heritage coast reaches 2040 in good shape for our successors will require a new energy, commitment and imagination. The disruptive force from the myriad upheavals of these times - COVID, climate change, Brexit - have given us all the chance to step back and effect change.
These essays have one unifying factor: their authors care deeply about the future of the Suffolk heritage coast and its hinterland. Their opinions about “What Needs To Be Done” are very diverse and we make no excuse for that - it’s an open mic publication with contributions from a varied cast of performers.
Their themes are rich in challenges and future vision and address important social, economic and investment needs as well as celebrating heritage and culture. From hydrogen as a new green power source, through the coming staging of Benjamin Britten’s diaries to the future of Suffolk’s Spoonbills, Bittern and Cranes moving feather-footed through the plashy fen.
The organising thought, with which few can disagree, is that we must all work together for a Net Zero Carbon future – aligning and protecting the heritage and unique nature of the region with the worldwide imperative of carbon reduction and sustainable energy supply. It’s thinking local to act global. And thinking global to act local.
The idea for this project was developed by the Sizewell Community Working Group – local residents and employers in the Suffolk Coastal area thinking optimistically about “what next?” for the region. The emphasis is on innovation and imagination. The project commenced in early 2020 but added poignancy and urgency is provided by the COVID-19 crisis.
This page hosts articles from members of the Working Group, along with access to Further Reading on relevant subjects. An anthology of essays and interviews was published in autumn 2020. The project is supported by Sizewell but retains editorial independence and welcomes a broad range of constructive views.