Seven tests for the Severn barrage
News from the RSPB site
Europe's most dynamic estuary will be destroyed by the construction of a barrage across the Severn while other less striking measures would cost less and could do more to cut carbon emissions.
The Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) on Monday (October 1) publishes its assessment of a Severn barrage and other proposals to harness tidal energy. A barrage would damage areas protected by international, European and UK law because of their value to birds and other wildlife.
The RSPB has set seven tests it believes the SDC must address in writing its report:
* It must acknowledge the Severn estuary's importance to wildlife and its extensive legal protection;
* Accept the legal requirement to establish that there no alternative to a barrage and that there is over-riding public interest in building it;
* Then recognise the legal requirement that thousands of acres of compensatory habitat would need to be created – a scale never undertaken in the UK before;
* Consider other options for harnessing the Severn's tidal power such as tidal stream;
* Accept that barrage construction will generate huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions for many years before it generates energy;
* Assess whether the money spent on a barrage would be better spent on other clean technologies and other measures such as cleaner cars to cut emissions;
* Confirm that any development on the Severn would not be dependent on public subsidy.
Dr Mark Avery, the RSPB's Conservation Director, said: 'Tackling climate change is hugely important but this can be done without destroying irreplaceable national treasures like the Severn estuary.
'We should be harnessing the power of the Severn but there are better ways of doing this than by hauling ten miles of concrete into the estuary.
'The government should be aiming to help, not destroy, wildlife and that applies to proposals for green energy schemes just as much as new supermarkets or housing estates.'
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