Government unveils Severn barrage feasibility project

The Government has decided to carry out a full-scale feasibility study into a possible power-producing barrage across the Severn Estuary.

Ministers have acknowledged that such a scheme, potentially capable of meeting five per cent of the UK electricity demand from one green energy source, would have significant planning, development and environmental implications on both sides of the estuary.

The study, which will also look at the potential of other similar but smaller schemes around the UK coast, will be overseen by a new ministerial committee which will include other interested Whitehall departments and the Welsh Assembly Government.

Business secretary of state John Hutton signalled renewed Government interest in a Severn barrage when he spoke at the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth.

The idea of harnessing the tidal power of the Severn has been under consideration for many years. But the likely price tag of over £14 billion and the ecological issues have made its prospects uncertain.

The study will look at the regional, infrastructure and transport implications as well as the planning and regulatory issues.

The Severn Estuary is a conservation area of international importance. Its mudflats, sandbanks, rocky platforms and saltmarsh provide an important habitat for populations of waterfowl, invertebrates and migratory fish.

Conservation groups, including the Government's own wildlife adviser Natural England, are sceptical whether a barrage could be compatible with the estuary's environmental status and are likely to be more supportive of tidal lagoons rather than a full-scale barrage.

The most likely alignment for a 10-mile long barrage across the estuary – which could carry a new road or rail link - would be from a point near Cardiff to a point near Weston-super-Mare.

Hutton's announcement came shortly before the Sustainable Development Commission is due to formally present to the Government its long-awaited study into tidal power.

Read the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform press release

Roger Milne

27 September 2007