The Wash: Tidal barrage plans criticised over wildlife impact

An artist's impression of the proposed barrage between Lincolnshire and Norfolk

Developers hoping to build a £3bn tidal barrage across the Wash have faced criticism from environmentalists.

The 11-mile (18km) link between Norfolk and Lincolnshire would include a road, railway line, hydroelectric power plant and offshore container port.

Centre Port said its barrage could provide power for 600,000 homes and help protect the coast from flooding.

But critics at a packed public meeting claimed it would be bad for the environment and fishing industry.

The structure's design features about 40 turbines to generate electricity from the tidal flow and would also be able to hold back water during a storm surge.

The plans also include an offshore container port

The planning and construction of the barrier - stretching from Gibraltar Point near Skegness, Lincolnshire, to Hunstanton in Norfolk - could take another 11 years, Centre Port said.

Chief executive John Sutcliffe said the scheme would boost the shipping and energy industries and was necessary to protect communities against rising sea levels.

"We do not have the luxury of time", he told people gathered at a meeting at Hunstanton's Princess Theatre on Friday night.

But Mike Jones of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust warned the "irreplaceable and fragile" habitat of the Wash would be "permanently degraded" if the plans went ahead.

He said: "You can provide green energy without despoiling the Wash, you can move freight around the country without destroying the Wash, you can protect farm land and community by a combination of seawalls and saltmarsh and sand dunes without destroying the Wash."

Mr Sutcliffe said a full feasibility and impact assessment would be carried out and the project would not go ahead if it was deemed likely to cause adverse harm to the Wash's wildlife.