Severn Barrage Scrapped. Barrages Yesterday's Big Idea

The news that the Severn Barrage scheme has finally been dropped comes as no surprise to members of Save The Ribble.

Barrages are expensive, they are barriers to marine wildlife, they totally mess up the environment.

The inflated claims made for the Severn Barrage's potential to generate energy have been shown to be vastly over optimistic,

The environmentalists case that the barrage would destroy rare habitats and threaten some fish and bird species while also raising the risk of floods has been shown to be correct.


FOE Cymru welcomed the decision while offering support for alternative approaches to reaping the Severn’s tidal power.

“The Severn estuary is an extremely important source of renewable energy that ought to be harnessed as soon as possible,” said FOE Cymru director Gordon James.

“We believe this could be done by other less damaging technologies, such as tidal lagoons, tidal reefs and a shoots barrage, and we hope the government will pursue these better options urgently.”


Save the Ribble congratulates FOE Cymru and all the anti-Severn Barrage campaigners for their long, sustained and well argued battle against this ill conceived plan.

Just as with the Ribble Barrage, the case for building the Severn barrage was put together by developers hoping to have huge amounts of public money poured down their throats. In the end, despite all the hype, the figures just did not add up. The big difference was that with the Ribble Barrage, there wasn't even the potential to generate electricity.

Urrá Dam Exacerbates Sin River Flooding - Help Needed in Colombia

Please Support Victims of Sinú River Flooding

'Save The Ribble' has received this urgent call from Friends of the Earth Colombia (CENSAT Agua Viva), it has many chilling echoes of the situation in Britain, where residents of Hull and Doncaster still face official inaction weeks after catastrophic flooding to their homes:

After intense rain showers more than 20,000 people living on the banks of the Sin River in San Pelayo, Cereté Lorica in Montería, Colombia were forced to find temporary shelter or be relocated to higher land. Their lands and homes are now under water from the June 29 inundations, which over-ran the Urrá Dam on the Sin River. Pets and livestock were lost, as reported by ASPROCIG the Producers' Association of the Greater Sin Region.

Sinú residents face poverty after flooding exacerbated by the Urrá dam

The same source confirmed that 600 of the 20,000 affected people are part of the social resistance process to the Urrá Dam. These are the communities who noticed the effects of the dam on fisheries and promoted agroecology and forestry initiatives in response the the threats. These initiatives are today under water.

In addition to the initial impacts of the Urrá Dam's construction on the communities and their territories, the government has been slow in responding to the flooding that is being experienced in Córdoba. The flooding was exacerbated by the presence of the dam, and there is a danger that government negligence could increase the humanitarian crisis and frame the perfect argument in favour of Urrá II, a "megadisaster" that would exacerbate the agony of the Sinú residents after the Urrá.

We need your help to support the victims in Córdoba. CENSAT Agua Viva is collecting non-perishable food, clothing, and medicine. CENSAT Agua Viva is also collecting financial support for the victims.

Please make a donation to the relief effort.


Censat-Agua Viva


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