At midnight, 5 May, the six-month DCO Examination for Sea Link formally closed. Thank you to everyone who submitted final representations on outstanding issues, including objections to the proposed government decision-making unit [AS‑167], which would remove local councils’ powers over the discharge of planning requirements.
Although no further submissions will now be considered by the Examining Authority (ExA), all correspondence received after the close of examination will still be passed to the Secretary of State’s team when the ExA submits its ‘Recommendation Report’ on or before 5 August 2026.
Deadline 7 submissions [REP7-001 to REP7-370] have now been published and SEAS will be reviewing them carefully over the coming weeks. In particular, we will be responding in detail to NGET’s Closing Statement [REP7-192], which dismisses many of the arguments heard throughout the Examination and, astonishingly, appears to blame the community for hindering the process. Given the scale of public concern and that more than 6,000 objections were submitted, SEAS considers this tone both arrogant and outrageous, but also a sign that our collective objections are possibly having an effect. See SEAS submission HERE.