I HAVE followed the debate concerning the proposed Severn Barrage in this newspaper and in several other engineering magazines. The letters from Andrew Gardiner and Haydn Cullen-Jones are of particular interest but, ignoring the standard 'green' arguments and concentrating on the engineering and technical possiblities, I believe that to accept this option solely based on alleged emission savings is wrong and could be disastrous.
Mr Gardiner compares the project with the similar one in France, La Rance. Here the estuarine bed is of rock and there is no, or very little sediment. As anyone who has been to Weston-super-Mare or Barry Island will know only too well, the Severn is full of sediment which accumulates on both sides of the channel and for 20 miles or so up-river. A more relative comparison would be with a similar scheme in Canada where the dammed river was silt-laden.
What occurred here was an ecological disaster, not only destroying natural habitats but also submerging tens of acres of arable, productive farmland. A number of small fishing villages found suddenly that they were landlocked. This could happen here if this project is rushed through in order to meet EU emission targets, which are founded on political grounds and not on sound engineering practice.
Dredgers are continually to be seen, clearing a shipping channel to Avonmouth, or on the Welsh side, to Cardiff and Newport, both of which have busy docks. What will happen to these centres of commerce if a barrage is built? The Wildlife and Wetlands Trust will also be adversely affected, even submerged by the back up of silt. How many farms will be ruined by the same process?
All these issues need to be properly investigated if the area is not to suffer the same disaster as occurred in Canada. Unfortunately the Minister overseeing this entire project is Ed Milliband who left university, spent reading PPE, went into television for a short while before entering politics in the Labour Party, where he has been ever since. His colleague, O'Brian, who has fronted this matter on TV, has displayed parlous knowledge of engineering. Not much expertise from the government can be expected, therefore. – Cy Roberts, Coalway.