Tide could be turning against Severn Barrage project

The government is reportedly poised to refuse funding for the world's largest tidal barrage across the Severn estuary, effectively axing a £20bn project that according to supporters could have provided up to five per cent of the UK's electricity.

The Guardian reported today that a government report due to be released later this month will recommend that the coalition ditch support for the ambitious proposals for a tidal barrage and instead undertake a feasibility study focused on a much smaller tidal energy project in the estuary that would cost around £3bn.

A source who has seen the report said that it made "pretty depressing reading " for those hoping that the more ambitious projects put forward for the government's feasibility study would get the go ahead.

The Severn Tidal Barrage Group, which includes engineering firms Robert McAlpine, Balfour Beatty and Taylor Woodrow, had set out plans for a huge tidal barrage that would also create additional road and rail links across the estuary.

Some environmentalists had opposed the proposals, voicing fears that it would have a huge impact on local wildlife habitats. But others had hailed the ambitious plans as a means of moving the UK a sizable way towards meeting its renewable energy targets through one project.

The consortium could continue to move forward with the project, but it is highly unlikely to raise the funding necessary to finalise the plans given that its eventual planning application could be refused.

A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said reports surrounding the future of the Severn Barrage project amounted to speculation, but he admitted that the results of the feasibility study were likely to be released within the next few weeks.

"Ministers are currently considering the recommendations from the feasibility study," he said, although he would not be drawn on the nature of the report's recommendations.