Last updated at 13:25, Monday, 08 February 2010

Proposals to harness the Solway Firth’s tides for energy are sure to provoke debate and disagreement.

One plan involves an 18-mile barrage from Workington to south-west Scotland.

A study suggests that this would be a tourist attraction, bringing 200,000 visitors a year.

Really?

Several photographs of tidal barrages have been published in the past few days to show how a Solway version might look.

These images do not make it easy to believe that 200,000 people a year will take time out of their busy lives to look at something which resembles a swimming pool lane divider.

Best of luck to any parent who tells their children that Disneyland has been cancelled and we’re all off to stare at the Solway Firth tidal barrage.

Any project should stand or fall on its merits, preferably without the distraction of dubious claims.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, Reiver is just off for a few days’ camping at an electricity substation near Grimsby.

First published at 11:25, Monday, 08 February 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk