THE man behind plans for "tidal power gateways" across Morecambe Bay and the Duddon Estuary is hugely encouraged by support for the project, and believes work could start "in two or three years".

North West Energy Squared (NWE 2 ) unveiled its plans last year. Chairman Alan Torevell says the £8.6bn scheme would generate green energy and could create up to 10,000 jobs.

It would see a series of tidal barrages installed across the bodies of water with dual carriageway roads running across the top of them.

The exact route these would take is still being investigated but it would connect Heysham, Barrow and Millom heading north up the west coast.

If there was a toll bridge across Morecambe Bay, how much would you be prepared to pay?

If there was a toll bridge across Morecambe Bay, how much would you be prepared to pay?
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Mr Torevell argues the crossings could carry high-voltage power cables from the proposed new nuclear power station at Moorside, Sellafield.

The NWE 2 scheme is part of a larger proposal which, would connect south west Scotland with the north of Wales.

The company held a travelling consultation event on the project earlier this year.

Mr Torevell said that feedback had been "90 per cent positive" and, in addition, major construction concerns had expressed interest in the project.

He added: "The more public discussion we can get on it, the better. There is quite a lot going on, we are producing three planning reports."

The key benefit to Furness and Millom would be dramatically shorter jouney times to the M6.

By road, it is 56 miles from Heysham to Millom and Mr Torevell says that making the journey now along the M6, A590 and A595 takes almost two hours.

He said: "It would be 26 minutes if you go straight across Morecambe Bay. We are thinking that there are likely to be six million journeys a year, there would be a lot less fuel used."

If there were six million cross-bay journeys each year, the reduced journey times would see 72 million fewer litres of fuel consumed resulting in an annual saving of 182,000 tonnes of CO 2 emissions.

There may also be another benefit. Mr Torevell said: "One of the problems in the Lake District is the amount of traffic in the eastern side of it. If you allow people to access it from the western side, congestion comes down."

While transportation may be the issue that the general public may on, Mr Torevell is as keen to speak about the potential to use the tidal range to generate green electricity.

He said: "It would generate about 7.3m megawatt-hours (MWh) a year, that is the same as Heysham's nuclear power station."

These bodies of water – particularly Morecambe Bay – are seen as ideal for generating tidal electricity because of the large variation in the tide levels.

The gateways could also be used to prevent inland flooding as far away as Kendal by making sure water is able to run off more easily.

The company's assumption is that the power would be sold at £70 for each MWh, resulting in revenue of about £511m each year.

This would help to pay for the bridge, the total cost of which would be £8.6bn.

Mr Torevell hopes that half of the capital cost would come from the Exchequer, with around £1bn coming in loans and the rest from private investors, in particular pension funds that might be attracted by the guaranteed steady returns.

Running costs would be close to £50m a year and cash would also be needed to pay a dividend to shareholders and service interest on the loans.

"You would have more than £200m and you could use it to repay debt or, more likely, use it to fund more infrastructure to move north towards the Solway," he said.

The company has estimated that 10,000 jobs could be created by the construction project, which would take eight years to complete, with skills that could be transferred to other developments.

Mr Torevell added: "We could start construction within two or three years, although I would like to see it happen a lot sooner than that. Three or four big construction firms are quite interested."