So one time Labour minister Peter Hain has presented redrawn plans for the Severn Barrage to David Cameron, who has instructed his officials to study them closely. Promoted as a £30bn investment by the sovereign wealth funds of Kuwait and Qatar, amongst others, it would give a welcome kick start to the UK economy at little capital cost to the UK. It would also help the UK to meet challenging targets for carbon emissions and begin to resolve the looming energy crisis as existing power stations are retired.
Reaching across the Bristol Channel from Lavernack Point, south of Cardiff, to west of Weston-super-Mare it would create 20,000 or so jobs during construction and generate power equivalent to three nuclear power stations or 2,500 off-shore wind turbines. It might also carry road and rail links.
Construction could start as early as 2014, so what's stopping it? Once again the impact on mudflats and wild life will feature strongly; and quite rightly so. No doubt MP Steve Webb will argue against it on the same grounds that he argues against nuclear, i.e. that it cannot meet the demand for power because it will take too long to build. That argument is self-fulfilling of course because the longer people like him defer decisions the more likely it is to be true.
And what of the people of Thornbury? I am confident that this week's issue of Thornbury Gazette will front page the opposition of one local group or another.
PS Off-topic perhaps but worth observing that politicians, our own included, are adept at deferring decisions in order to delay capital investment. How do they do it? Simple! Just run with the hare and hunt with the hounds, witness the excruciatingly slow progress deciding on Frenchay or Southmead as the site for a new hospital.
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