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Liverpool City Region Metro
Mayor commits to Mersey Barrage
LIVERPOOL City Region Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram today spoke to a global
investment conference to highlight the feasibility of a tidal barrage for the
Mersey Estuary, which he believes will have a massive impact on the City
Region's growth trajectory.
Speaking at the third annual UK Wide Infrastructure Investment Conference in
Milton Keynes, where he addressed a room full of significant institutional
investors, Steve Rotheram said that devolution now gave City Region's the
opportunity to think big, take a long-term perspective and begin to redress the
infrastructure investment imbalance that has until now favoured projects in
London and the South East.
Metro Mayor Rotheram will be reviewing all the historic studies and data
relating to the project to harness the Mersey's potential as a source of green
energy, but is also inviting potential funders and partners to come forward to
take part in the next Phase of commercial and technical feasibility work.
To underline the Metro Mayor's commitment, he also intends to appoint a project
director to take this work forward.
The Labour politician outlined some of the key infrastructure projects already
being delivered in the region; including Peel's Liverpool 2 port expansion, the
massive Burbo Bank wind farm and the Mersey Gateway crossing at Runcorn; but
signalled a commitment to 3 major projects that he said would have a
transformational impact.
Liverpool's Metro Mayor Mr Rotheram said:- "We need
to expend the scale of ambition in the city region. For decades, the task of
harnessing the enormous tidal power of the River Mersey as a source of renewable
energy has been simply consigned to the too difficult and complicated box. A
Mersey Barrage would be a source of green energy, a stimulus to employment and
investment, and a project with massive transformational potential. Indeed, it
has already been identified that this project alone has the potential to provide
enough power to meet the average needs of 200,000 homes. This would be a
significant leap in achieving my ambition to be a carbon neutral city region by
2040. As the reality of Global Warming becomes more obvious and urgent to all
rational and responsible political leaders, this is simply an opportunity that
cannot be squandered or put on the back burner. Bringing forward a new business
and logistical plan for a Mersey Tidal Barrage will be one of the major
priorities of my Mayoral administration. As a source of green energy, a stimulus
to employment and another opportunity to integrate and connect communities on
both sides of our river, it is a project with massive transformational
potential. In his speech he also re-iterated his call for rapid progress on the
delivery of Northern Powerhouse Rail, and underscored the compelling economic
and logical case for the initial phase of the project to be a new fast rail
connection between Liverpool and Manchester. In addition he identified the
urgent need to invest in the region's digital infrastructure to guarantee super
fast broadband connectivity across the City Region, to harness the potential of
the area's burgeoning digital and creative economy. With the new powers devolved
to the region over strategic planning, such as creating a Mayoral Development
Corporation, a spatial strategy, a Land Commission, a Single Investment Fund, we
have the tools to match our ambition to address the big issues and the long term
challenges. Connectivity and infrastructure have been at the core of our
economic story as a region, and they will be foundations of our future growth
and prosperity."
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