§ Viscount HanworthMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, since a further road crossing of the Severn estuary may be needed in the future, they are considering the merits of a barrage which could not only provide electricity but also a road crossing.
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, the study, which the Department of Transport is to carry out into how a second road crossing might be provided in the general corridor of the existing bridge, will examine other forms of crossing, as well as a bridge, but it will not duplicate work being done elsewhere.
If a barrage scheme can be shown to be viable on the basis of its energy potential, and could be available in the right place and at the right time, it would be considered as a means of providing a second road crossing.
§ Viscount HanworthMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his Answer. There is only one point I should like to put to him and it is this: assuming that this proposal is still a possibility, will he ensure that its possible environmental effects will be included in the study which is now being made for what I term the Bondi barrage, which is much lower down the Severn? If the Government did decide on the scheme, it would seem to be a pity, to have to make vet a further study, with a further waste of time.
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, as my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Transport announced on 7th February, a study into a second road crossing is being undertaken. The preparatory work is in hand. As I understand it, the Bondi scheme is being evaluated by its proposers.
§ Viscount HanworthMy Lords, the noble Lord has not answered the question that I asked. Can he confirm that a contract has been let for the study of the environmental effects on the Severn—silting, and so on—of the Bondi barrage? If that is the case, will the noble Lord add to the contract a study of the higher barrage, with its possibility of a bridge crossing?
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, no contract has been let for the Bondi barrage scheme. A joint study is taking place. The Department of Energy has subscribed a sum of money towards that feasibility study. I repeat that no contract has been let.
§ The Earl of LauderdaleMy Lords, would my noble friend agree that it is very important to keep in mind the relative scales of cost? If a road bridge is likely to be of the order of £100 million, a power station of the order of £1,200 million and a barrage of the order of £6 billion they are not really comparable.
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, the relevant costs of all the suggested schemes are one of the many factors borne in mind.
§ Lord Stoddart of SwindonMy Lords, could the noble Lord ensure, bearing in mind that other suggestions have been made for a scheme upstream, that the long-term benefit of a much greater generation capacity will not be sacrificed to any short-term expediency, irrespective of the cost and irrespective of who might finance such a scheme?
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, as the noble Lord has said, a number of suggestions have been made. When those suggestion come before my right honourable friends in the departments to which I have referred, they will be borne in mind.
§ Lord GeddesMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that such a barrage would, or could, additionally provide excellent deep water port facilities in close proximity to the industrial Midlands?
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, I am not aware of that proposal. However, I am aware that it has been suggested, and the proposal will be taken into consideration if such a scheme comes formally before either of my right honourable friends.
§ Lord Cledwyn of PenrhosMy Lords, I wonder whether the noble Lord would be good enough to clarify the situation for my benefit, if not for the benefit of the whole House. Is it not the case that two studies are now taking place? The first study is intended to be set afoot by the noble Lord's right honourable friend the Minister of Transport, as announced on 7th February, with regard to the possibility of a second crossing of the Severn. The other study is connected with the Bondi Report. Does the noble Lord recall that exactly two years ago there was a debate in the House on the Bondi Report? Is it not the case that in addition to the Bondi Report another study is taking place into the feasibility of the barrage? If these two studies are taking place, is it not possible for the Government to arrange for them to be co-ordinated so that the proposal for a road on the barrage can be considered at the same time? Is that what the Government are proposing?
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Transport has initiated a study into a second road crossing. The study includes a number of factors—whether it might be a bridge, or whether it might be a tunnel, and so on. That study will be undertaken quite soon. In addition, there are what I might describe as two private enterprise schemes. One is known as the Bondi barrage scheme, which has support amounting to £¼ million from the Department of Energy. That is now being evaluated by the Severn Tidal Power Group. The 265 other is known as the Wimpey-Atkins scheme. Again, they are engaged in pre-feasibility studies, both technical and financial, for which there is no Government support at this time. A further barrage scheme might incorporate a road crossing.
§ Earl Lloyd-George of DwyforMy Lords, may I ask the Government how they reconcile their apparent willingness to fund research into either a second Severn crossing or a barrage compared with their apparent unwillingness to consider any form of finance for an equally important fixed link—namely, the Channel Tunnel?
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, I am sure the noble Earl will accept that his question is very wide of that originally on the Order Paper.
§ Lord ParryMy Lords, will the noble Lord accept that closer to the Question is the fact that a great many people in Wales, while welcoming the studies of alternative entrance to and egress from the Principality, still consider the Severn Bridge to be a splendid highway; and that visitors and commerce entering by that bridge are welcomed by the people of Wales all the time?
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, I of course agree with and support exactly what the noble Lord has said.
§ Lord DenhamMy Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, has been rising to his feet. We have been seven minutes already on this Question. I believe the House might appreciate it if, after the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, has asked his question, and my noble friend has answered, we went on to further matters.
§ Lord HyltonMy Lords, in considering the financial implications of any new Severn crossing, will the Government take into account possible grants and cheap loans from the EEC?
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, I beg the noble Lord's pardon, but I did not quite catch the end of his question.
§ Lord HyltonIt referred, my Lords, to possible cheap loans and grants from the European Economic Community.
§ Lord Lucas of ChilworthMy Lords, the Government will consider all forms of financing.