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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jun/09/swansea-bay-tidal-energy-scheme-on-brink-of-winning-planning-permission
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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
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| Swansea Bay tidal energy scheme wins planning permission | Swansea Bay tidal energy scheme wins planning permission |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The energy and climate change secretary has given planning permission to one of the most ambitious and potentially expensive “green” energy schemes ever seen in Britain. | The energy and climate change secretary has given planning permission to one of the most ambitious and potentially expensive “green” energy schemes ever seen in Britain. |
| Amber Rudd agreed the £1bn project to provide power for 150,000 homes from a tidal lagoon at Swansea Bay, although she has become embroiled in a separate but connected row over a super-quarry to provide stone for the Welsh project. | |
| Mark Shorrock, chief executive of Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay, said his marine power project was a “game-changer” that should trigger a much wider industry in tidal energy around the UK. | |
| “The tidal lagoons that follow – at Cardiff, at Newport, elsewhere in the UK and overseas – must each make their own compelling social, environmental and economic case to proceed. But they have a pilot project to guide them and a blossoming technical and industrial network to support them.” | “The tidal lagoons that follow – at Cardiff, at Newport, elsewhere in the UK and overseas – must each make their own compelling social, environmental and economic case to proceed. But they have a pilot project to guide them and a blossoming technical and industrial network to support them.” |
| Planning permission is essential to the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon scheme but its future ultimately depends on a separate decision by the department on subsidies. | Planning permission is essential to the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon scheme but its future ultimately depends on a separate decision by the department on subsidies. |
| Related: Should the UK be subsidising the world's first tidal lagoons? | Related: Should the UK be subsidising the world's first tidal lagoons? |
| The Conservative party has made clear that it wants to end subsidies for onshore wind schemes but is understood to see opportunities for jobs and exports from the potentially more costly Swansea Bay scheme. | The Conservative party has made clear that it wants to end subsidies for onshore wind schemes but is understood to see opportunities for jobs and exports from the potentially more costly Swansea Bay scheme. |
| But energy and climate change and Wales office minister Lord Bourne, who announced the green light for the scheme, said: “We need more clean and home-grown sources of energy, which will help to reduce our reliance on foreign fossil fuels. Low-carbon energy projects like the tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay could bring investment, support local jobs and help contribute to the Welsh economy and Swansea area.” | |
| Meanwhile, Rudd has been dragged into an escalating row over plans to mine stone in Cornwall for the Swansea Bay breakwater and ship it through a marine conservation zone. | Meanwhile, Rudd has been dragged into an escalating row over plans to mine stone in Cornwall for the Swansea Bay breakwater and ship it through a marine conservation zone. |
| Derek Thomas, the newly elected Conservative MP for St Ives, has joined other residents in opposing the reopening of Dean quarry near St Keverne. He has written to Rudd asking her to intervene. | |
| “I have no doubt this is not the right place to source the stone. Any jobs created would not replace others that could be lost in fishing, tourism and diving,” he added. “The stone could be obtained more cheaply in Norway and I have written to Amber Rudd to explain this.” | “I have no doubt this is not the right place to source the stone. Any jobs created would not replace others that could be lost in fishing, tourism and diving,” he added. “The stone could be obtained more cheaply in Norway and I have written to Amber Rudd to explain this.” |
| The National Trust also said it had “serious concerns” about the plan, which would involve the construction of a loading jetty and shipping operations off the Lizard peninsula. | The National Trust also said it had “serious concerns” about the plan, which would involve the construction of a loading jetty and shipping operations off the Lizard peninsula. |
| In a letter to the Guardian published last Thursday, Sir Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate art galleries, wrote in a personal capacity to express surprise that Mark Shorrock, the chief executive of Tidal Lagoon Power, had insisted in an interview that no decisions had been taken to source materials from Cornwall. | In a letter to the Guardian published last Thursday, Sir Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate art galleries, wrote in a personal capacity to express surprise that Mark Shorrock, the chief executive of Tidal Lagoon Power, had insisted in an interview that no decisions had been taken to source materials from Cornwall. |
| This seemed at odds, Serota said, with Shorrock telling a meeting in Cornwall that he was applying for planning permission to reopen Dean quarry and extract 1.5m tonnes of rock a year. | This seemed at odds, Serota said, with Shorrock telling a meeting in Cornwall that he was applying for planning permission to reopen Dean quarry and extract 1.5m tonnes of rock a year. |
| Related: World's first tidal-lagoon clean energy scheme prompts environmental row | Related: World's first tidal-lagoon clean energy scheme prompts environmental row |
| Tidal Power Lagoon said the project, which is being proposed by Shire Oak, a separate Shorrock company, could not go ahead until it had planning permission for the jetty and a contract to supply the stone to Swansea Bay, neither of which was yet certain. | Tidal Power Lagoon said the project, which is being proposed by Shire Oak, a separate Shorrock company, could not go ahead until it had planning permission for the jetty and a contract to supply the stone to Swansea Bay, neither of which was yet certain. |
| “I don’t think it’s fair (to criticise). The whole point of going down there (for public meetings in Cornwall) was for early engagement to show what the plans for the site could be,” said a spokesman for Shorrock. | “I don’t think it’s fair (to criticise). The whole point of going down there (for public meetings in Cornwall) was for early engagement to show what the plans for the site could be,” said a spokesman for Shorrock. |