A TEAM of MPs has refused to back plans by a private sector firm to build a £25 billion barrage along the Severn Estuary.

That's according to a group of MPs who say proposals for an 11-mile tidal barrage raise significant environmental concerns without making a strong economic case for the plan.

Environmental groups said the committee's findings have sunk the project.

The House of Commons' energy and climate change committee' chairman Tim Yeo said his group could not recommend the scheme by Hafren Power following an inquiry into the plan.

If built, the 1,026 turbine barrage would run between Lavernock Point, near Cardiff, and Brean, near Weston-super-Mare in England.

A report by the committee published today found that the barrage would need high levels of government support through long term contracts that provide a guaranteed price for low-carbon power.

But that price would be much higher than the support expected for other low carbon technologies such as nuclear reactors and offshore wind.

An "unprecedented" amount of habitats for birds and other wildlife would need to be created to replace what was lost in building the barrage, while the consortium behind the plans has failed to address concerns about how it would affect nearby ports, it was claimed.

The Hafren Power bid is the latest in a series of proposals to harness the vast renewable energy resource of the Severn Estuary, which has the second highest tidal range in the world.

Mr Yeo said the Hafren Power proposals were "no knight in shining armour for UK renewables".

Gareth Clubb, Director of Friends of the Earth Cymru, said the report "sunk the Severn Barrage".

He said it confirmed what his organisation had argued for years, that "the proposed scheme is financially unviable at a time when the cost of solar and wind power is coming down rapidly."

Hafren Power advocate and Welsh MP Peter Hain said £25 billion from private investors was on standby to build the barrage, but that the money was not around forever.

Paul Flynn, MP for Newport West, said that with so many opponents to the barrage he doubted whether it would ever be built.

However he said tidal energy was Wales' "North Sea Oil" and has huge potential, while nuclear is very expensive.

A Department of Energy and Climate Change spokeswoman said the department will provide a full government response shortly.