100 FIRMS SIGN TIDAL LAGOON PLEDGE
MORE than 100 leading Welsh businesses, including Tata Steel UK, have signed a letter to Theresa May urging her to give the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project the green light as soon as possible.
Swansea Council leader Rob Stewart and Nigel Short, Penderyn whisky owner and chairman of Scarlets Rugby, are delivering the letter by hand today to Number 10 Downing Street.
Other businesses to have endorsed the letter include the Cuddy Group, Dawnus Construction Holdings, Coastal Housing, Day’s Rental, Owens Group, Castell Howell Foods, WRW Construction and Andrew Scott Ltd. Chris Pearlman, Swansea City FC’s chief operating officer, and Roger Blyth, chairman of Ospreys Rugby, have also signed it.
Today’s trip to London is part of a campaign called Love the Lagoon, which has been supported by thousands of people in South West Wales since its launch in September. The privately-funded £1.3bn energy project has planning consent but is not commercially viable until a financial package of support is agreed between the UK Government and developer Tidal Lagoon Power. Mr Short said the Love the Lagoon campaign was evidence of widespread backing of the scheme.
“I’m urging the UK Government to give this vital project the go-ahead as soon as possible,” he said.
“The Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon would produce clean power for over a century. Compared with other parts of the country, west Wales has suffered from serious under-investment for too long, so the UK Government now has a chance to change that.”
The lagoon would create more than 2,000 construction jobs, take four years to build and, according to Tidal Lagoon Power, generate the equivalent electricity used by 155,000 homes for 120 years. Swansea Labour leader Mr Stewart has reiterated that a decision was “critical” to buoy up investor confidence.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to approve vital, green infrastructure for the benefit of Swansea residents now and many generations to come,” he said.
Earlier this month Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns told the Post that the cost of renewable energy was falling, and that the lagoon numbers had to add up.
“I would really like to see this happen, but none of us would want it to happen if it’s not good value for money for the taxpayer,” said Mr Cairns.