No to lagoon so Wales must be more assertive

AS a civil engineer, I have worked on several marine/rock armour schemes and have supported the proposed Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon – ref. my letter in the Western Mail of April 22, 2014, which also advocated constructing a deep-water cruiseship berth next to the lagoon wall.

The lagoon would utilise the second largest tidal range in the world – always available, at known times. After the Swansea “pathfinder” scheme, several much larger, much cheaper lagoons would be built around the Welsh/ UK coasts, and, by then, would incorporate advanced batterystorage methods and provide around 8% of the UK’s electricity. The lagoons would create a major new, world-leading industry – longterm, sustainable, low-carbon, non-imported fuel, natural-resource energy, with marine-culture/sport and tourist benefits, no “nuclearsize” decommissioning costs and with very significant design-export revenue potential.

Former Energy Minister Charles Hendry’s review urged the government to go ahead 18 months ago, but so as to minimise “embarrassment time” Westminster has delayed rejecting the scheme until it was able to announce positive news for the planned Wylfa Newydd.

I worked on the construction of two nuclear plants, including Wylfa 1, when the UK was the world nuclear leader, but we now rely on foreign input. In particular, we increasingly need imported cabled electricity from France’s huge nuclear base, which emphasises that Westminster’s “no lagoons” decision shows a complete lack of long-term vision for the establishment of a “UK world-leading” non-imported fuel/ energy industry.

During the long decisiondelay, Westminster refused to discuss terms with Tidal Lagoon Power and has rejected the Welsh Government’s offer to fund almost one-sixth of the £1.3bn cost, which is relatively tiny compared with the over-£150bn cost of Crossrail 1&2, HS2, Heathrow 3 and Hinkley 2, across the border.

The Tories/Westminster, with the backing of the all-powerful London establishment, will always try to dominate/subjugate/financially suppress Wales (e.g. Barnett, railways, effective devolution, etc.) and control our land, sea bed and fresh water. We must be far more assertive, like the Scots and Northern Irish.

Our Welsh Government/Transport for Wales’ sensible handling of our new rail franchise shows that it’s time for relevant, major decisionmaking powers to be transferred to Cardiff.

Many prominent business and political leaders support the lagoon scheme and economist Vince Cable has said its economics are clear cut, with multiple benefits.

Common sense says that the lagoon schemes must, and I believe, will, be built, though later than planned and with a modified financial structure. Gareth Davies Alltwen