The tiny seaside village you've never heard of that's 'crucial to the UK's very survival'

With its calming waves and fishing boats nestled along sandy beaches, Sizewell has got to be one of the most beautifully peaceful and tranquil places in the world. Yet despite its relaxing atmosphere, this tiny Suffolk hamlet of fewer than 100 homes is said to be rapidly becoming critical to the UK's survival - as battle rages over building an enormous nuclear power station on its shores.

For years, furious residents fought tooth and nail to stop Sizewell C from ever being built next to its sister B station, which pumps out electricity next door. At double the size of its neighbour, they feared it would become an ugly blot on the picturesque Suffolk landscape, destroy surrounding wildlife, and cause traffic misery during at least 10 years of construction chaos. But after Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine sparked a sudden shift in the need for homemade UK energy, the Government finally gave full approval in July for the controversial power station to be built.

Alison Downes, from campaign group Stop Sizewell C, says the decision is "devastating" to the station's opponents, even if others fervently support the economic boost of thousands more jobs and say the station is crucial to Britain's energy future.

Yet she argues that many of the grave warnings about Sizewell C are already coming true, as motorists get snarled up in traffic gridlock and nature lovers are left heartbroken by the destruction of 22,000 trees.

Julia Pyke, joint managing director of Sizewell C, says: "We recognise we bring detriment, but we aim to give more than we take, so that it's net positive to have the power station for most people.

"We need Sizewell C because we need energy security in this country. We need abundant electricity. We also need energy prices to go down."

She admits the argument that Sizewell C will save Britain money in the long run sounds counterintuitive, because nuclear power stations are extraordinarily expensive to build. The projected cost of the station, which will power six million homes when operational, has already rocketed by £18billion in five years.

Ms Downes argues that "if you want to increase energy output, there are quicker, cheaper renewable options available to you".

She added: "Because technological advances are progressing so quickly, it seems to us a nonsense to spend a huge amount of money investing in a technology which, frankly, is a thing of the past."

But Ms Pyke says: "If you don't have something like Sizewell, which is domestically secure and weather independent, then you need an awful lot more storage.

"We're not trying to say you should have a 100% nuclear system. We believe in a diverse mix.

"But nuclear takes up a lot less land than either solar or wind, and it brings an awful lot more UK jobs."

Take a glance at where the 605-acre site is being built - equivalent to 400 football pitches - and it might be hard, at least at first, to recognise that it is actually saving land space nationally.

Artist's impressions show Sizewell C will dwarf the B station, with two giant nuclear reactors instead of one.

The frenzy of activity since official planning consent was granted in 2022 means it is almost as if a small city is being built in the heart of one of the UK's most remote and rural spots.

Undoubtedly, the opportunities such a gigantic project brings for locals in a rural area that has suffered for years from chronic underinvestment and a lack of career opportunities are like gold dust.

Businessman Tom Baker landed his largest-ever contract to supply Sizewell C with 120,000 to 130,000 cubic metres of concrete. His Eastern Concrete firm has had to take on eight extra workers for the mammoth job.

"It just doesn't get any better than this," says Mr Baker. "I know people who hire diggers and dumpers, people who run civil engineering businesses - we've all got work here.

"It's all adding to the local economy. It's just doing good for the whole Suffolk community."

Jack Steggalls, 19, who was born and bred in Ipswich, joined Sizewell C as a civil engineering apprentice after finishing his A levels at Copleston High School. He will achieve a degree alongside earning a salary, saving him thousands of pounds in university debt.

"While the opportunity is here, I feel like I should make the most of it," he says.

"There are so many different jobs it's created, and the jobs will evolve over time as the project evolves.

"It's good to be part of something that's hopefully going to be a good step forward for the future."

Sizewell C has a legal commitment to ensure at least a third of the 10,000-strong construction workforce is from the local area. But whether they are from Suffolk or elsewhere, the new workers all need somewhere to live or at least stay while on site.

A 2,400-bed temporary accommodation unit is being created nearby, while the former Pontins holiday park in Pakefield, Lowestoft - a 45-minute drive away - has been converted into lodgings for workers.

Ms Downes says the accommodation plans are "completely inadequate", adding: "Rental properties are becoming extremely scarce. Rents are dramatically increasing in the surrounding area."

She even hears horror stories of tenants being evicted so landlords can double the rent.

Motorists also say they are getting caught up in more traffic snarl-ups, even though Sizewell C has pledged to bring in 60% of construction materials by rail and sea.

Ms Pyke highlights that Sizewell C is improving infrastructure, for example by building a long-awaited bypass for the nearby villages of Farnham and Stratford St Andrew. A new link road will also bring materials directly to the site.

Yet those road schemes themselves involve disruptive construction work, with journey times rocketing as frustrated drivers get stuck at temporary traffic lights.

Ms Downes' village, for example, is set to be walloped by three simultaneous road closures in a few weeks. "You just sort of feel like you're kettled, because there isn't a route you can take to go anywhere," she says.

Ms Pyke says: "I would never deny that we will bring, we do bring, traffic disruption.

"We're doing what we can to mitigate it, and ultimately, I realise that people have to go through quite a long period of traffic disruption." But she argues the project will leave Suffolk infrastructure in a better state than it found it.

Another area where Sizewell C says it is leaving a net gain is in nature and biodiversity, to compensate for any loss of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Despite the felling of 22,000 trees, it has steadily transformed 150 hectares of barren land - including a former onion farm - into nature reserves.

While the full benefits of a habitat rich in plants and birds will not be reaped for decades, Dr Steve Mannings, Sizewell C's environmental lead, says: "Wildlife is settling here now."

Marsh harriers, for example, which declined to a single breeding pair about 40 years ago, are now flourishing at the new Wild Aldhurst site "because we've created a great, great habitat for them", says Dr Mannings.

He believes the changes will leave the area "hugely enhanced for wildlife" in the long run and points to praise from lifelong environmentalist and Natural England chairman Tony Juniper, who says Sizewell C is "ensuring protected species and habitats are safeguarded".

Dr Mannings adds: "Everyone has an emotional attachment to trees. We get that. But the trees we've taken down, there's nothing there, no understory - maybe a few birds right at the tops or something, but that's about it. It shades out wildlife because it's too dark."

While he stresses that trees are being replanted in their thousands, he argues the new nature reserves will be "much better for wildlife because it's open, because it's light".

Not everyone is convinced. Ms Downes message to Sizewell C is simple: "You really need to stop saying the trees you've taken down are low value, because it just annoys people.

"The reality is that really, really valued mature oak trees have been lost all over the place, and that's what people notice.

"People are upset about the landscape having changed in multiple locations and distinctive, well-loved trees being lost.

"Secondly, it's going to take them decades and decades for biodiversity to increase in the way that they claim.

"I just think that's kind of cold comfort for people who are dealing with the day-to-day reality of how the landscape has changed around them."

Nuclear power stations take at least a decade to build, meaning rows and complaints about disruption to Suffolk's gentle way of life are likely to rage for many years yet.

Ms Pyke says: "Of course, people don't like to see things cut down. And I would add that we're never dismissive of people not liking construction traffic, noise, light - people don't like it. It's natural.

"But it is necessary if we're going to have abundant, low-carbon electricity. In the way we go about it, we care a lot about the environment, we're creating a lot of mitigation habitat, and we're going about it to a very high standard."

Despite the need for cheaper energy and Labour's spiky rhetoric about "builders not blockers", the fight for the future of one of Britain's prettiest spots continues.