Severn tidal power consultation

Trying to meet todays deadline for the phase one consultation I managed to send off an email yesterday. The views here are my own personal comments.

This is what I said:

I wish to make the following comments on the Severn Tidal Power consultation.

My comments are based on the following:

DECC Phase 1 Consultation Doc., and the SDC report, Turning the Tide. October 2007.

Attendance at the RSA public forum meeting on 7th March 2009, in Bristol.

Membership of the Somerset Wildlife Trust and the RSPB.

On the basis of these documents, meetings and the public statements of the above organisations which I support I am not in favour of the Cardiff to Weston barrage because it would cause unacceptable environmental damage to the Severn Estuary.

I support efforts to generate electricity from sustainable sources such as tidal energy but only after thorough testing and development.

I support the view that a greatly increased level of research is needed to explore alternative technologies which offer sustainable energy generation without major environmental destruction which would follow from the Cardiff/Western barrage.

I feel strongly that far more emphasis should be directed to reducing public, industrial and commercial demand for energy before we, as a community, massively change and damage our natural inheritance.

I do not accept the arguments that we must continue to generate ever increasing wealth and prosperity whatever the cost to the environment so that we may all maintain the life style we have become accustomed to.

I support the SDC statements (Section 5.3, page 139) that it is not advocating unquestioning Government support for a barrage and that there are serious challenges for current Government policy.

It is significant the SDC also states in Section 5.3 page 139 that:

“We do not take a position on the relative merits of the various barrage schemes but have instead considered the issues generically, with an inevitable focus on the larger Cardiff-Weston scheme due to the availability of more detailed evidence and the greater degree of impact it would have - environmentally, economically and socially.”

David German 22.04.09