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Have your say about the government's plans to generate tidal power in the Severn Estuary

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Severn Tidal Power Feasibility Study Consultation

The Severn Tidal Power Feasibility Study Consultation was launched on 26 January and will close on 23 April.

Phase one of the consultation is canvassing views on:

• a recommended shortlist of schemes
• the scope of the Strategic Environmental Assessment that is being carried out within the feasibility study
• the issues the feasibility study is considering and how these are being approached

Ten potential development options have been considered so far for generating tidal power in the Severn Estuary. These include barrages, lagoons, a tidal reef and tidal fence.

These have now been narrowed down to a proposed shortlist of five, but all ten proposals will be subject to the three-month consultation process.

Shortlisted schemes

Of the ten proposals for generating tidal power in the Severn Estuary five have been shortlisted. These are:

• Cardiff Weston Barrage - a barrage crossing the Severn Estuary from Brean Down, near Weston super Mare to Lavernock Point, near Cardiff which could generate nearly five per cent of UK electricity
• Shoots Barrage - further upstream of the Cardiff Weston scheme
• Beachley Barrage - the smallest barrage on the proposed shortlist, just above the Wye River
  
• Bridgwater Bay Lagoon – a radical new proposal which impounds a section of the estuary without damming it
• Fleming Lagoon - an impoundment on the Welsh shore of the estuary between Newport and the Severn road crossings

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said: "We have tough choices to make. Failing to act on climate change could see catastrophic effects on the environment and its wildlife, but the estuary itself is a protected environment, home to vulnerable species including birds and fish.

"We need to think about how to balance the value of this unique natural environment against the long-term threat of global climate change. It is vital we seek public views and collect all information we need to make sure our climate change actions are ambitious yet fair."