Energy and Climate Change CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by the North Somerset Council (SEV69)
1. North Somerset Council welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Select Committee on the issue of the Cardiff—Weston barrage. The Council is keenly aware of the importance of addressing the contributors to climate change and securing a greater proportion of our energy from renewable sources. The potential of a barrage scheme is of particular interest to this council because any delivered scheme would have a considerable impact on North Somerset both during and after construction.
2. Whilst the Council are wholly supportive of investigating new and alternative tidal energy schemes, which will deliver significant volumes of low-carbon electricity from the River Severn, the current scheme raises the following serious concerns.
Commercial Shipping and Ports
3. The Port of Bristol is a key contributor to the economic strength of the sub-region and also has a national significance, which benefits the residents of North Somerset and UK economy as a whole.
4. The Port employs over 500 people directly and 7,000 indirectly. The Port is the only fully-equipped multi-user dry bulk commodities port south of Immingham, Lincolnshire, capable of handling bulk carriers of 130,000dwt. It is also strategically located close to the major population centres of the UK and is the only UK deep-water port with direct access to North, South, East and West on both motorway and railway networks.
5. The Port handles a wide range of nationally significant cargoes including:
the second largest steam coal import facility in the UK;
27% of the UK’s imported aviation spirit;
22% of total UK animal feed imports; and
the leading UK port for deep-sea motor vehicle imports and a major exporter for UK manufactured vehicles including Jaguar Land Rover, JCB, GM, Honda and Toyota.
6. Full consent has been granted and preliminary work is underway for three nationally significant investments with combined value of £1.2 billion—a £600 million Deep Sea Container Terminal and two biomass power stations. These developments depend upon the port’s ability to accommodate deep-draught ships, its efficient cargo handling ability and first class inland infrastructure links.
7. The reduction in available water depth upstream of a barrage would make it impossible for deep-draught ships to enter/exit the Port on 80% of tides. This would make the Port realistically unviable for vessels over 70,000dwt without substantial works in dredging and new locks. In addition any barrage would have to include deep-water channel locks to facilitate shipping movements, This would increase costs/journey times and would be highly significant for ship/cargo owners and impair the Port’s competitive advantages resulting in the loss of significant revenues. The combined impacts of the barrage would be severe and incapable of mitigation, with the result that the Port could be forced to close.
8. The port is already experiencing a reduced appetite for investment whilst the barrage debate lingers. The Council therefore fundamentally questions whether in the current economic climate it is in the national and regional interest to carry out further investigations.
9. In summary the barrage would not provide a net benefit to the economy. Any temporary gain from the construction employment opportunities would not outweigh the significant value lost from the permanent damage to ports and associated businesses. For example whilst there is a view that a barrage could enhance Weston as a tourist resort due to improved tidal conditions; this is not proven and silting and erosion of the sandy beaches for which Weston is famous could equally result with disastrous consequences for the area’s tourist industry.
Alternative Technologies
10. The Council fully support the objection lodged by the West of England Local Economic Partnership (LEP) in particular the need to look at more recent technologies. Feasible alternatives exist to a barrage including tidal range and tidal stream technologies. RegenSW’s October 2012 report (“A Balanced Technology Approach”) outlined how multiple technologies could be deployed in the Estuary in preference to the barrage to generate energy less damaging to the environment and in balance with other marine uses. This combination of technologies would produce at least as much energy as the large barrage and generate power 24 hours a day (unlike a barrage which would require permanent back-up capacity)
Environment
11. The Severn Estuary is a unique habitat and is protected by several international and national designations, as is some of the adjacent land. The Estuary’s sheer scale and extreme dynamic physical environment shapes its ecology and sets it apart from other UK and European estuaries. Any barrage would irreversibly alter those features and have long-term adverse ecological effects on an unprecedented scale.
12. Other organisations are better equipped to comment on the issues relating to the specific biodiversity and ecological systems. However, we consider that the preservation of the special habitat and ecology associated with the great tidal range to be of particular importance and the risk of disastrous unintended consequences is unacceptably high.
13. Another concern is the sourcing of the construction materials and transportation to the site. A robust appraisal of the impact and true cost of construction must be undertaken in terms of environmental damage, carbon footprint and transportation costs.
Infrastructure and public services
14. During the construction phase the influx of plant, machinery and workers would impact on infrastructure and services, possibly to a critical degree. It is essential to include the provision of services and sufficient infrastructure to ensure that existing residents do not suffer reduced service.
December 2012