TEN years after controversial plans for a barrage over the River Usk were rejected the debate is being re-opened.

Newport Chamber of Commerce is launching a web-survey to open up discussion on whether the city would benefit from a barrage, to raise river levels and reduce the rise and fall of the tides.

This time the idea is to link the barrage with plans for the M4 relief road, by constructing the road over the Usk at the docks.

But Newport council is opposed to the idea, and say the huge financial and legal implications mean it is unlikely to be possible.

Bob Bright, leader of Newport city council, said: "A decade ago the barrage was being heralded as a catalyst for the regeneration of the city's riverside areas.

"Much of this is now occurring."

He said the time scales would be prohibitive to the city's economic growth and could deter potential investors.

Patrick Long, leader of the Chamber of Commerce, said: "A lot of our members have premises on floodplains and can't develop or extend because of flood risk.

"They asked us to look into a barrage to support the regeneration of the city.

"In the next few years we envisage Newport growing and attracting many more businesses. At the moment we fear that an inability to develop that area may discourage businesses from staying in the area."

Robert Carew-Chaston, chairman of leading South Wales commercial property firm Hutchings and Thomas, is supporting the idea.

"I think the Usk barrage is worth reconsidering now, before it is too late, and this wonderful window of opportunity is closed perhaps forever."

The chamber of commerce survey among its members, Newport's business community and other interested parties is due to be finished by St David's Day - ten years to the day when the original barrage scheme was thrown out by then secretary of state for Wales William Hague.

A spokesman for Newport Unlimited, the company behind the council's extensive city centre regeneration plans, said the city does not need a barrage to make its regeneration a success.

"The rise and fall of the river, which is one of the highest tidal ranges in the whole world, can be made a positive feature which other cities do not have."

* To have your say in the online survey, email barrage@the thirdstage.com