Last updated 08:40, Friday, 09 January 2009

IN 2007 we were approached by a firm of consultants from Dumfries who were conducting a study into the feasibility of a tidal barrage and road from Scotland to Bowness on Solway along the line of the old viaduct.

Power play: Two years ago Nigel Catterson suggested a Solway barrage to produce energy from the tides – now the idea has resurfaced once again with a £200,000 feasibility study suggested

We told them that, although our committee completely approved of tidal power to create energy, we were opposed to this particular proposal on two grounds. These were:

a) Local knowledge showed that, due to silting problems in the Solway at that point, the tidal pumps would not work at that particular location. However, tidal pumps would work further westwards, towards the Outer Solway, nearer Silloth.

b) To put a road across the Solway along the line of the old viaduct would be pointless and dangerous. There is no infrastructure on the English side of the Solway at this point for the increased traffic which would result, particularly heavy traffic between west Cumbria and SW Scotland. The only way an increase in traffic could be accommodated would be to build a trunk road linking Bowness on Solway to the A595, which would be impossible due to the international and national restrictions created by the area being an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), having several Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), a World Heritage Site and a Ramsar Site, restricted under the Bonn and Berne Conventions. Any planning enquiry alone would take at least half a century; and even if it were approved that would not solve the problem of silting.

We now see that this proposal has resurfaced (The Cumberland News, December 24), this time with a potential £200,000 of taxpayers’ money for a feasibility study. It has been reported that the proposers say the idea has “community support”. This is not true on the Cumbrian side of the Solway.

Neither Bowness on Solway Community Group nor Bowness Parish Council have been approached for their opinions on this proposal. If we had been, our answer would have been the same as it was in 2007.

This proposal does not need £200,000 of taxpayers’ money spent on it to asses the feasibility of it. A free survey would tell them all they need to know: a tidal barrage will not work along the line of the old viaduct for the reason we gave to them in 2007.

The Committee of Bowness on Solway Community Group