ENVIRONMENTALISTS have welcomed the news this week that plans for a barrage across the River Severn are to be shelved.

Chris Huhne, Secretary of State for Energy, announced on Monday that a two-year feasibility study had ruled that the project, which would have seen the estuary dammed at a cost of £34.3 billion, would not now go ahead.

He said the study clearly showed that there was "no strategic case at this time" for public funding of a scheme to generate energy from the Severn.

Martin Spray, chief executive for the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) at Slimbridge, said the organisation welcomed the announcement.

"WWT has supported the search for sustainable energy sources but all along we've said that any energy generation scheme on the internationally-important Severn estuary must be cost effective and minimise environmental damage.

"The Cardiff-Weston barrage would have failed on both counts," he said.

Joan Edwards, from The Wildlife Trusts, said: "The news that the Cardiff-Weston barrage is off the cards for now is very welcome, given the risk it would have posed to the wildlife of the Severn Estuary."

However, The Severn Estuary Partnership, a partnership between all the users of the estuary including industry, councils and other groups, said the potential of the river should not be ignored.

Peter Tyzack, chairman of the group, said: "We have a responsibility to research and find out how we can make use of this massive power that's out there."

Those who had supported the barrage idea said the government’s decision was a blow to the region.

Trish Johnson, regional director for Institution of Civil Engineers South West, said: "The impact on the local economy, through the creation of thousands of local jobs would have been significant, bringing long term benefits."

The government had been considering five potential schemes to harness the tidal power of the River Severn but all have been ruled out for the time being.

However, the10-mile barrage from Weston-super-Mare to Cardiff, a shorter Shoots barrage, which would run parallel with the Severn crossing, and the Bridgwater Bay lagoon could be reconsidered in five years time, said Mr Huhne on Monday.

The Cardiff-Weston barrage was considered the most expensive and environmentally-damaging of the five projects.

Despite a capacity for producing five per cent of the country's energy needs, it came with the largest price tag and would have destroyed between 40 and 50 per cent of habitat on the estuary and could have led to the possible extinction of salmon in the Severn.