黑洞社区

Fears for the wellbeing of salmon and trout are causing further delays to the troubled 拢1bn Swansea Bay tidal lagoon scheme, according to specialist fish lawyers.

In addition to well-publicised delays to subsidy negotiations with the government, the client Tidal Lagoon Power is also struggling to obtain a marine licence from regulators 鈥� which is needed for the project to go ahead 鈥� due to concerns for local fish populations.

Campaign group Fish Legal has obtained an internal briefing note from regulator Natural Resource Wales, dated March, that states the project has not yet been granted a marine licence. It was widely thought a marine licence had already been granted. The regulator said assessing the impact on fisheries 鈥渕ay add a significant number of months to the process鈥�.

Main works on the 拢1bn project have already been pushed back from spring 2016 to spring 2017 due to negotiations over a strike price - the amount of subsidy paid by the government for electricity generated.

Fish Legal chief executive Mark Lloyd told 黑洞社区 the main issue concerning Natural Resource Wales centres on three rivers around the lagoon filled with highly sought after trout and salmon, which will be 鈥渋n danger of being sucked through the turbines and chopped up鈥�.

Asked when a decision to grant a licence was likely to be made, Lloyd said: 鈥淢y feeling is Natural Resource Wales is trying to put off the marine licence until the end of the [government] review [into tidal lagoons policy].鈥�

He added: 鈥淣ormally a decision takes weeks or a couple of months. Tidal Lagoon Power submitted their application a few months ago and it is taking a lot longer than usual, which is indicative of the problems they are having.鈥�

It has also emerged strike price negotiations are no closer to being completed after Fish Legal obtained a separate letter from energy secretary Amber Rudd to Mark Shorrock, the chief executive of the project鈥檚 developer Tidal Lagoon Power, revealing the government has already rejected a strike price offer.

Rudd鈥檚 letter, dated 10 February and obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, said Tidal Lagoon Power鈥檚 strike price offer was a 鈥渟ignificant deviation from the basis upon which we started this bilateral negotiation process鈥�. She confirmed the government would not 鈥渞espond formally鈥� to an offer until its review into tidal lagoons policy is completed - not expected until the autumn.

In response to the briefing note obtained by Fish Legal, a Tidal Lagoon Power spokesperson said: 鈥淲e continue to work with government on an efficient financing structure for tidal lagoons while also progressing discharge conditions with the relevant authorities.鈥�

The Department of Energy and Climate Change declined to comment.