There are plans to join the Wirral and Liverpool City Centre by building a tidal barrage across the River Mersey.
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said: “The River Mersey has been the lifeblood of our fortunes for centuries. I believe it holds the key to our future success too.
“Developing our Mersey Tidal Power Project could mean generating enough power for up to 1 million homes, create thousands of local jobs, and our city region becoming a worldwide centre of excellence in a vital industry of the future.
“I think that we have a unique opportunity to harness the power of our greatest natural assets – our river and our people.”
In a new report, Liverpool City Centre Combined Authority have said that people could cross the river on foot or cycle over.
The barrage, which is part of a multi-billion pound scheme, aims to power one million homes and reduce carbon emissions.
The report said that the project was the first of a kind in the UK as it would build the barrage with turbines, sluices and marine navigation locks.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service said that the combined authority hoped to have the barrage delivered by 2040, “to operate for 120 years”. The planned barrage includes street furniture such as benches and public toilets, and rest points along the route.
The report stated that the proposed project needed government support for tidal range technology and funding.
A Combined Authority spokesman said: “The project has the potential to provide enough clean, predictable and renewable energy to power up to one million homes for 120 years and create thousands of local jobs.”
The spokesman added the scale of the project “takes time to plan and exploration work to determine the operating model is still ongoing.”
Feature photo (c) Liverpool City Centre Combined Authority
