NEWPORT'S Conservative group has pledged to revive plans for a £250 million barrage across the River Usk if it wins control over the council next month's election.
The Tories said proposals for a barrage in Newport stretch back to the 1990s, and argue the case has been strengthened by recent environmental concerns.
Climate change and the Russian invasion of Ukraine both contribute to the "highly compelling" case for a barrage across the Usk, which will provide provide "affordable, clean and green energy", the Tories said.
While the party has not pledged to build the barrage - it estimates the project would cost a quarter of billion pounds, and it is unclear where that money would come from - it has said it will "promise" to "do all we can to ensure that a Newport Barrage is placed firmly back on the table" if the Conservatives gain control of Newport City Council in May's vote.
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The party said building a barrage near the city's iconic Transporter Bridge would also serve as flood defence and would cut river pollution. It would also be a platform on which Newport could develop tourism and "draw in tourists from across Britain and globally".
The Usk would not be fully sealed off because the barrage would include a lock for boats and allow migrating fish, such as salmon, through to swim upstream to spawn.
It would also include a link road to eastern Newport's industrial estates, allowing HGVs to travel to and from the city's docks without using the A48 Southern Distributor Road.
Altogether, the proposals could create "many thousands" of jobs and "drive prosperity for the city and its people", the Conservatives said.
What have other parties said?
Jane Mudd, the leader of the Labour Party in Newport, said the Tories' proposal "does not appear to align with the recently launched UK Conservative Government Energy Strategy which has a strong emphasis on nuclear power".
"Furthermore, it was a Conservative government that previously rejected plans for a River Usk barrage," she said, adding that "Newport Labour are committed to establishing a new independent commission to explore the potential for harnessing the tidal power of the Severn Estuary to create clean sustainable energy".
She described the River Severn as having "huge potential for creating clean renewable energy" and the Severn barrage project as already having the support of "business, research and academia alongside local authorities, city deals and combined authorities from across the Western Gateway partnership area".
"Our commitment is to delivering a stronger, fairer, greener Wales," she added.
The Liberal Democrats in Newport said they would support projects that "bring jobs, protect the environment and generate energy", but added the party had "two big concerns" about the barrage plans.
A spokesman warned it "isn't possible for a local council to do this on its own", and the project would need partnership with others including the Welsh Government.
"The Tories saying that only they can deliver this, is not true, and won’t help create the goodwill needed to make this happen," a Lib Dem spokesperson told the Argus, adding that the Conservatives had "consistently failed to provide investment for these big projects" in Wales, from the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon to "a fair share of HS2 funding".
"They keep letting Wales down," the spokesman said. "We can’t see why this idea would be any different."
Jonathan Clark, a candidate for Plaid Cymru in the Allt-yr-yn ward, called the Tories' barrage plan "a classic case of better late than never".
"It’s a pity that the Tories were opposed to the barrage back in 1991," he added. "I seem to recall that one William Hague, then Tory Welsh secretary, turned it down in the first place.
"Plaid in Newport has long believed that Newport must be at the forefront of the green energy revolution - with our deep-water port, our highly skilled adaptable workforce, we are a natural centre for off-shore wind, tidal lagoons, tidal turbines and a modern feasibility study in the possibilities of a Usk river barrage."
The Newport Independents Party was also contacted for comment.
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