South Wales Evening Post 18 December 2006

Public support is being sought for a campaign to keep benefits of a
proposed £80 million tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay local. Backers of
the project say £24 million needs to be raised for the lagoon to be
publicly owned for the benefit of the people of the Swansea Bay area.

A working group of lagoon supporters has the backing of the scheme's
promoters, Tidal Electric.

They hope to establish a community interest company to raise the
capital necessary to make the lagoon scheme a reality.

Group spokesman, Brig Oubridge, said: "What we envisage to make this
happen is a new form of public-public partnership - a democratically
controlled company which would enable the people of the Swansea Bay
area to become investors in the project, both as individuals and
through their representative public authorities, the local
authorities and the Assembly, who could also become stakeholders."

Mr Oubridge believes it will be possible to generate sufficient funds
to get the project going.

"The money required is not huge - with 70 per cent of the estimated
£80 million construction cost available as commercial loans, the
amount needed for a publicly owned lagoon is only £24 million, or
less than £100 each for the quarter million adults in Swansea and
Neath Port Talbot.

"The potential rewards, however, are enormous.

"Tidal Electric calculate that the lagoon will generate enough
electricity to supply 47,000 homes for 120 years at today's
consumption level."

But to make the project a reality, Mr Oubridge said: "It is the
people of the area who must take the lead in backing the project.

"Local government is no longer free to invest in great public
undertakings as they did in Victorian times.

"Central Government is no longer willing to do so.

"If the people of Swansea Bay join together to fund the lagoon, it
can benefit them and their children for the next century.

"If we miss this opportunity, it may still get built, but only for
the benefit of outside investors and big-money corporations."

Mr Oubridge said project profits from the lagoon - estimated to be
£13 million a year - could be ploughed into energy-saving projects
for the benefit of the whole community.

Anyone interested in taking part in the project should write to:
Tidal Lagoon Project, c/o the Environment Centre, Pier Street,
Swansea, SA1 1RY, or email tidallagoon@...