Commission pours cold water on barrage claims

03 August 2007

The Sustainable Development Commission has played down suggestions that a report on tidal power will include an assessment on how plans for a Severn barrage might have prevented flood problems in Gloucestershire.

The commission is due to publish a report on tidal power this autumn which will examine a number of schemes, including the £15bn Severn Barrage scheme to build a 10-mile concrete boom from Lavernock Point near Cardiff to Brean Down in Somerset.

Senior politicians, including the Welsh first minister, Rhodri Morgan, have backed the scheme, but it has been criticised by environmental groups who fear it will lead to the loss of wildlife and a unique eco-system.

A spokeswoman for the commission said the report would examine the advantages and disadvantages of tidal power, but include an assessment of building a tidal barrage across the Severn Estuary.

‘The report is still being written and will concentrate on tidal power,’ she said.

The Environment Agency, Countryside Council for Wales and Natural England have agreed a position paper which says that ‘there should be careful consideration of whether there are other less-damaging ways of tapping the Severn’s tidal energy’.

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Commission pours cold water on barrage claims

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