Severn Barrage Falls Victim to a Failure to Look Ahead ; the Voice of the Westcountry

Summary

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In 1925 it would have been possible to build a power-generating barrage across the Severn estuary for a relatively modest Pounds 25million. Yesterday, in what turned out to be the worst-kept secret of the Government's energy policy, proposals for a modern-day barrage were dropped. The cost - now an eye-watering Pounds 34 billion - was cited as one of the reasons that the project won't go- ahead. How long before that decision is seen as a major missed opportunity? It is true that there must be better times than the week of a painful Comprehensive Spending Review to consider a massive civil engineering project requiring significant public investment.

But it is always possible to find reasons for not doing something radical and expensive. This government could have been the one to take the decisive step on a project that, while controversial, would have made every other green energy scheme pale into insignificance.

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Extract

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Severn Barrage Falls Victim to a Failure to Look Ahead ; the Voice of the Westcountry

It looks today as if it has blown that chance.

If ever there was an illustration of why Britain needs to tak...

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