Exclusive: Route of proposed £650million Severn Barrage is unveiled

Published: February 1, 2007
Exclusive: Route of proposed Severn Barrage is unveiled

Map showing the proposed Severn Barrage route

The first map showing the route of the proposed multi-billion pound Severn Barrage - running between Brean Down, near Burnham, and Lavernock Point in Wales - is unveiled today.

Welsh entrepreneur Gareth Woodham, who is behind the ambitious 'Severn Lake' project, has given Burnham-On-Sea.com a first glimpse at how the 1km-wide causeway could stretch across the Bristol Channel.

The map - which is likely to form the basis for a huge planning application - shows how the proposed causeway will stretch from Brean Down into the channel before snaking north, past Flat Holme and Steep Holme, and running eastwards to the Welsh shoreline.

Most interestingly, the map reveals more details about the planned marinas and other facilities which will be constructed along the barrage.

Map of the Brean Down end "We intend to have four marinas - two at each end of the causeway - plus 200 hydro-electric turbines, and two wave farms at Brean and Lavernock Point," said Mr Woodham.

"There will also be two lock gate shipping channels, a new lifeboat station serving both sides of the causeway, and a dozen islands offering luxury homes on the central eastern shipping channel."

After several months of talks with stakeholders and local authorities, Mr Woodham says he remains optimistic that the scheme will get the go-ahead. "Make no mistake, a causeway will definitely be built across the Bristol Channel one day - it makes perfect financial and environmental sense," he says.

The Lavernock Point end of the barrage He added that the project was put under the spotlight earlier this week during a Green Party workshop in Bristol to discuss the potential of renewable energy across the south west.

The event was attended by various interested parties, including the Severn Tidal Group, Friends of The Earth, the RSPB, Tidal Electric (a lagoon engineering company) and Marine Current Turbines (a turbine manufacturer).

"My plans seemed to be well received," said Mr Woodham. "Renewable energy, rather than more nuclear power stations, is definitely the way ahead."

Burnham-On-Sea.com reported last year how Mr Woodham hopes to have the barrage in place within 20 years.

[Images courtesy of the Severn Lake Company]

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