D-day nears for Severn Estuary projects

After more than 20 years of abandoned studies, backtracking and buck-passing, the UK government is finally poised to make a decision on exploiting the vast potential of the Severn Estuary.

Five schemes - an assortment of barrages and lagoons that impounds the water at high tide and sends it rushing through hydroelectric turbines when the waters recede - are on the current short list and a decision on whether to go ahead with any of these is expected next summer.

The most high profile of these options is the so-called Severn Barrage: a 10-mile (16km)-long concrete dam running from Lavernock Point near Cardiff to Brean Down near Weston-super-Mare. However, while proponents of the scheme claim that it could generate up to five per cent of the UK’s electricity requirements, the likelihood of it being given the green light appears to be receding. Critics claim that it will impinge on shipping and have a disastrous impact on the local environment, while a recent report in The Times quoted Whitehall insiders as saying that the £23bn project will be shelved under a cost-cutting drive.