Villagers fed up after becoming Sizewell C rat-run

A country road is becoming a rat-run for the construction of a nuclear power station, according to villagers living nearby.

The B1125 in east Suffolk runs between the A12 at Blythburgh and the B1122, passing by the villages of Westleton and Middleton.

Mandy Beaumont, who is part of the B1125 Action Group, said: "After having been promised that Sizewell C would bring improvements to local areas, this particular area is being turned into a race track".

A Sizewell C spokesperson said it was bringing highway improvements to the road.

Sizewell C is being built next to the functional Sizewell B nuclear power station, close to the town of Leiston.

Metal yellow rat sculptures have been placed along the road by residents, unhappy that drivers are using it as a shortcut to get to the Suffolk coast.

Local sculptor Paul Richardson made 150 of the rat figures as a "tongue-in-cheek" way of making their point.

"I thought, what can I do, how can I help this campaign, there are a lot of really upset people," he explained.

Richardson, who lives close to the B1125, said that traffic started to build at around 05:30 each day.

Around 50 of the rats appeared to have been stolen from the roadside, he added.

Philip Wilshere, who lives on the side of the B1125, said: "We can't keep our windows open in the summer because [the traffic] starts too early."

Wife Joyce Wilshere said she counted around 300 cars passing in the same direction in one morning.

"They weren't speeding but it's just the volume that it is now," she said.

Philip Wilshere believes most of the traffic is workers heading to Sizewell C. He hopes the volume will decline once infrastructure has been completed, such as a nearby park and ride that will take people to the construction site.

Sizewell C said it hoped to have two park and ride sites fully operational by the end of 2026, which could accommodate 2,500 vehicles.

Frank Peel, who lives at Westleton, says the road is "extremely busy", especially at rush hour.

Residents understand that people need to use the road, he says, but "the volume of traffic has made it really quite difficult to cross" over.

He fears the increase in the number of heavy vehicles using the street has damaged the road surface in places.

Dilys Hall, who lives in the village, agreed: "The roads are just not well designed and they're definitely not designed for the volume of traffic we're seeing now."

Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, the Labour MP for Suffolk Coastal, said that Suffolk County Council had "failed to engage with residents" over the issue.

"This rural route has become a real rat-run used by drivers trying to avoid roadworks on the A12," she said.

"It really shouldn't be used like this."

The MP called for the council to produce an "action plan" that looked at "what can be done straight away to make that road safer as well as looking at what measures need to be done in the longer term".

A spokesperson for Suffolk County Council said it recognised concerns around traffic levels, although claimed the volume on the B1125 was no greater, and "in many cases lower, than many other B-class roads" in the county.

"There are a number of mitigation measures related to Sizewell C and the B1125 coming forward, including monitoring road safety, traffic speeds and volumes," the spokesperson added.

A Sizewell C spokesperson said as well as "highway improvements" on the B1125, it was "delivering" the Sizewell Link Road and the Two Village Bypass.

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