Newport West AM Rosemary Butler was right to say that a Severn Barrage would help protect Newport and surrounding areas from flooding, according to First Minister Rhodri Morgan.

Rosemary raised the Severn Barrage issue at question time in the Assembly, asking the First Minister firstly about the energy which a Severn Barrage would generate, and secondly about its ability to prevent flooding.

Rosemary Butler: Will the First Minister make a statement on the extent to which a Severn barrage between Lavernock and Brean Down would enable Wales to become self-sufficient in electricity?

The First Minister: As the Severn barrage would go all the way across to England—it would not generate any power if it stopped halfway—it is difficult to relate the barrage to the idea of Welsh self-sufficiency. However, the mathematics are roughly as follows: as of today, Wales consumes roughly 24 TerraWatt hours (TWh) per annum, and the Lavernock barrage would generate around 17 or 18 TWh per annum.

Therefore, if the Welsh share of the power generated was about 8 or 9 TWh, and if by the time it came on stream, electricity consumption in Wales had risen to about 27 TWh per annum, then the barrage would probably provide about a third of our electricity.

Rosemary Butler: Thank you for that lesson in mathematics, First Minister. I will bear in mind that the barrage needs to go all the way across to England if it is to work. [Laughter.]

It is good news that this barrage, if it is built, will help to reduce Wales’s carbon footprint. However, our experience this week, with gales and tidal surges, has shown that a Severn barrage would also help to prevent the kind of incident that occurred in my constituency, where 170 people were evacuated from their homes in St Bride’s because of the threat of flooding.

Can you ensure that the reduction of flooding is a major consideration in any research undertaken as part of the feasibility study?

The First Minister: It is true that some people will attribute this week’s storms and tidal surges to global warming, and while I cannot make that link between a single incidence of bad weather and global warming, some people say that such events will become more frequent.

The Severn barrage would crop off the top 5 per cent of high tides, and would therefore have a beneficial effect on the whole area from Lavernock Point to the Severn bridge, and possibly beyond, where the river borders the Forest of Dean. It would have some beneficial effect in reducing flood risk on all the low-lying areas upstream of the barrage.

March 11, 2008