Welsh Barrage Leak

The £92m Cardiff Bay Barrage will cause the first wholesale destruction of an SSSI and set a dangerous precedent for other ‘developments’. Salt-water mud flats, "ugly and discourage investment in the area", will be transformed into a ’freshwater’ lake for watersports. This will ’maximise the appeal to industry and business to re-locate to the Bay’, though the quality of the water will be so poor that immersion sports will not be allowed: Cardiff Bay Development Corporation (CBDC) have already admitted that any human coming into contact with the water will require instant hospital treatment. Blue-green algae will form on the lake killing fish and birds and providing an ideal environment for midges to breed. The Barrage will further degrade the rivers Taff and Ely, with their already high levels of sewage and phosphate pollution, creating a highly toxic environment. Ground-water levels will be affected so that the homes of both birds and humans will be destroyed. The area was proposed as a ‘Special Protection Area’ in 1981, but this has never happened.

Michael Boyce, chairman of the CBDC, responsible for the building of the barrage, categorically stated that there was no substantial opposition to the barrage. He was proved wrong when 30 odd members of Cardiff EF! entered CBDCs offices on June 10th. By the end of the occupation, EF! had managed to secure a meeting with members of CBDC. The next day, almost 1000 people marched around the bay. The construction (Costain and Balfour Beatty) officially started on May 25th, so it may begin at any time and Cardiff

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