RSPB warns Severn barrage could be “disastrous”
Tuesday 09 February 2010
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| Storm surge barrier and erosion defences on the Eastern Scheldt or Oosterschelde estuary in Holland.Credit: Kate Jennings |
A barrage across the Severn Estuary could cause increased flooding and have devastating impacts for wildlife, fishing, tourism and shipping, the RSPB has claimed.
The wildlife protection organisation has based this argument on the findings of an official Dutch report which details some of the harmful effects caused by a similar scheme to the proposed Severn Barrage in the Netherlands.
Last month, (January 13), climate minister David Kidney confirmed that the Government was currently carrying out a feasibility study to decide whether the UK could support a Severn tidal scheme, with the evidence gathered due to be published alongside a second public consultation later this year (see this NewEnergyFocus.com story).
However, the RSPB claims that the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) knew about the Dutch report in 2008 and is questioning why it has still not published its own report into the effects of a barrage on the tides and sediments of the Severn Estuary.
According to the Dutch report, the construction of a storm surge barrier across the Oosterschelde estuary in the 1980s has caused/is causing a number of problems, including:
- Increased erosion has led to the loss of mudflats along the estuary, leading to higher waves and water levels. Huge sums will have to be spent on strengthening coastal defences to protect lives and property;
- By 2050, the tidal flats of the Oosterschelde will have more than halved, falling from 11,000ha in 1986 to about 5,000ha in 2045 and 1,500ha by the end of the century;
- Salt marshes will disappear from all but the most sheltered locations by 2050;
- Less intertidal habitat will mean less shellfish and fewer birds. Oystercatcher numbers will have crashed 80% by 2045 with other species "awaiting the same fate";
- Shipping channels will become shallower and harder to navigate;
- Shellfisheries will be hit because of loss of habitat for the cockles and mussels;
- Tourism will be hit by the loss of wildlife interest.
The RSPB claimed it had been searching for a comparable scheme to the Severn barrage for a while in order to assess its potential impacts.
Commenting on the report, Dr Mark Avery, director of conservation at the RSPB, said: "This report makes grim reading. It is the closest we can get to proof that a barrage across the Severn will devastate the estuary.
"Although smaller, the Oosterschelde is very similar to the Severn Estuary in many ways and it is being damaged beyond repair, something our Government appears to have known since 2008."
He added that while the Dutch had little choice but to build the barrier to prevent storms claiming lives, the UK has the choice to construct something less environmentally damaging to harness tidal energy.
Dr Avery said: "We have long said the Government should invest in innovative schemes, which offer the potential to put the UK and UK engineering at the forefront of tidal power without the risk of floods, loss of wildlife and livelihoods.
"We know the Government have produced their own report on how a barrage would affect the tides and sediments of the Severn. The big questions now are what does that report say, why can't we see it?"
DECC
In response to the RSPB's call for evidence, a spokesman from DECC reaffirmed that the Government is currently still carrying out its two year Feasibility Study into whether it could support a tidal power project in the Severn Estuary.
He explained that the impacts, costs and benefits needed to be understood before DECC could conclude whether a scheme would be a good idea.
He added: "In order to understand the environmental and socio-economic effects of a tidal power scheme, we are carrying out a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). As part of this process we are looking at what we can learn from precedents such as the storm surge barrier in the Eastern Scheldt (Netherlands) and other estuary and coastal power generation schemes.
"In 2008, at the invitation of the Severn tidal power feasibility study team, Dutch officials gave a presentation on the construction and subsequent impacts of the storm surge barrier. As we have previously made clear, once the evidence gathering is completed, we'll publish our findings including the detailed technical reports from the SEA as part of a public consultation on Severn Tidal Power."
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