Back Swansea Bay, steel industry tells George Osborne

Leading employers in the steel industry have written to the chancellor George Osborne to encourage a final decision on the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project, which they claim could provide much-needed employment for workers who have lost their jobs at Tata and other companies in Newport and the north of England. The backing of the steel industry comes in the same week that it was announced that the Gupta family, owners of the international energy company SIMEC, has invested £10m in Tidal Lagoon Plc. The investment is understood to be part of a deal that will see tidal power technology developed and further projects explored in the UK and India.

Tidal Lagoon is currently waiting for a government decision on strike rate subsidies for Swansea Bay – the amount the government will gaurantee for the power produced. Prime Minister David Cameron has recently said that government enthusiasm for the Swansea Bay project had 'cooled' due to high costs. Tidal Lagoon argues that the Swansea Bay project will open up others around the UK and lead to lower costs for tidal power. The latest intervention from steel industry bosses will add to the pressure on the government to give the green light to the project.

Around 750 out of 1,050 job cuts announced recently by Tata Steel UK are at its Port Talbot-based business and steel employers say that expediting plans for developing a tidal power plant in the Swansea Bay will provide a massive boost to the local economy and save jobs.

Gherold Davies, chairman of Fairwood Fabrications, a contractor for Tata Steel who may have to cut half its employees due to announced layoffs, has written to the chancellor calling on the government to advance Tidal Lagoon Power’s plans for a tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay. “If we get the first tidal lagoon away at Swansea, there are another five waiting, so there’s a whole new industry being created,” said Davies. “It’s thousands of high-skilled, quality jobs. We need a form of reinvention to keep that traditional heavy industrial base running, and tidal lagoon’s perfect for that,” Davies said.

Tidal Lagoon Power, the developer behind the lagoon, estimates the project could create around 2,000 jobs during the construction phase. Stephen Kinnock, Aberavon MP, has also called on the government to approve Swansea Bay tidal lagoon, while committing to using steel sourced from Port Talbot for lagoon’s construction.

“The economic boost that the tidal lagoon will bring to the region is particularly needed now with the news of 750 job losses at Tata Steel in Port Talbot. It will create hundreds of much needed jobs locally through its construction and operation, and can also provide critical support to our beleaguered steel industry because of the massive steel turbines, each with a diameter of 7.35 m, which will be at the heart of the project,” Kinnock claimed.

“The Government’s continued prevarication over agreeing a strike price with Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon is costing the lagoon project months, even years of delays, and is costing the Swansea Bay region vital jobs,” Kinnock told the South Wales Evening Post.