There aren't many easy options for this or any British government to source renewable energy which can make a real impact for national demand. It is therefore very sad to see that plans for a Severn barrage have once more been rejected. Such a project would provide 5% of the UK electricity demand. If a similar project were to be rolled out on the Menai Straits off Anglesey, this figure could easily be doubled. While the environmental concerns have been well documented, they are surely outweighed by our need to start producing our own energy as the cost of our domestic bills continues its relentless progress through the ceiling.
Instead, the government is trying everything to convince the many doubters of the the need for HS2. The Severn Barrage would cost £25 billion. The HS2 project would cost at least £40 billion. Even setting aside the obvious disparity in cost between these two major projects, the payback of the barrage is far more compelling than that for HS2. The payback of the latter is based on more assumptions than I've had hot dinners whereas the last time I looked, the waves were still coming in and going out again in their familiar tidal pattern. Perhaps the government would see the sense of the barrage if there was a financial reason for them to do so. I can't think of any sensible reason preventing them from grasping the nettle and making it happen.
That is a problem within British culture. While the French were putting in their infrastructure of nuclear power and the Japanese were putting in their bullet train, we were closing the coal mines and closing the branch lines. Just for once, it would be nice to think a British government could do the right thing and plan for the future. Just for once, wouldn't it be nice if we had something to show for our money?
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