NorthWales MPs put muscle behind push for tidal lagoon
THE UK Government has been left in no doubt that support for the Swansea Bay Tidal lagoon now extends far beyond south Wales.
Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns came under pressure from Conservative and North Wales MPs who want to see the nation become the home of tidal lagoons.
More than a year has passed since a UK government-commissioned review gave the thumbs-up to the construction of a lagoon but ministers have yet to respond.
During a meeting of the Welsh Grand Committee – the first in which the use of Welsh has been permitted – former Secretary of State for Wales and Clwyd West Conservative MP David Jones stressed the potential for lagoons around the coastline.
Tidal Lagoon Power hopes to see lagoons not just in Swansea but in Cardiff, Colwyn Bay and Newport.
Mr Jones urged Mr Cairns to speak to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in “very, very strong terms”.
He said: “Does he appreciate that the Swansea Tidal Lagoon is supported not only in the Swansea area but right across Wales, that it is an advanced technology that could be of enormous benefit to the British economy, and indeed, would be highly welcomed in north Wales, where a large tidal lagoon is proposed for the north Wales coast... so will he speak in very, very strong terms to his colleagues at BEIS about this matter?”
Strong backing for lagoons also came from Labour Vale of Clwyd MP Chris Ruane.
He told the Welsh Secretary: “There is a chance that the UK could become a world leader in this technology and if we delay this we will miss out. We missed out on wind power so here’s a chance, and four of those six potential sites for lagoons are located in Wales.
“Wales could become a world leader.”
Mr Cairns cautioned that the MP should “think long and hard” about the consequences of “paying over the odds” for the project.
But Mr Ruane made the case for major investment, saying: “Paying over the odds in the initial period will have a long-term payback. We will be able to have energy from this project for the next 125 years, we’ll be able to time that energy to the minute.
“I believe that is worth taking an investment in – even if it is over the odds – in the short term.”
Plaid Cymru Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MP Jonathan Edwards argued that the government should consider a new funding model so the cost is borne through taxation rather than added to energy bills.
He said: “It would be far better for people to pay through their taxes rather than through energy prices.”
Simon Hoare, the Conservative MP for North Dorset, argued that the lagoon project sent out a “very strong” message about commitment to renewable technology and the nation’s industrial base and this should be taken into account when making the economic assessment.
Vale of Glamorgan MP Mr Cairns stressed the threat that increased energy prices could pose to Wales’ steel sector.
He said: “[Two] years ago we were considering the crisis at Tata Steel, which is adjacent to the proposed site for the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon, and one of their core demands or core concerns is the rising costs of energy, so therefore it would not be in anyone’s interests to want a project to go ahead that had the risk of driving up energy costs and therefore on that basis it is only right that we scrutinise this project to establish whether it is value for money, as is believed.”
Mr Cairns said the lagoon was a project he “would like to see happen” but he underscored the importance of establishing “whether it is as genuinely value for money, not forgetting it will be our constituents who will be asked to support it”.