THE news that four of the UK’s proposed six tidal lagoon power stations could be built off the Welsh coast with two of them on the Welsh side of the Severn estuary has certainly generated some waves of its own over the last week.

Tidal energy has long been a feature of electricity production in Scotland but its potential has never been realised here in Wales despite our lengthy coastline and high tidal ranges.

Of course the environmental concerns, including the effects on fish migration, will have to be looked at in more depth but we should certainly keep the door open on a technology which has the potential to provide around 8 per cent of the UK’s electricity well into the 22nd Century - without some of the more severe environmental implications of the Severn Barrage or some of the more visually obtrusive wind-farm developments.

It seems Monmouthshire may be no stranger to innovative marine technologies. Steve Clarke and the Monmouth Archaeological Society have been uncovering evidence of New Stone Age boat-building on the shores of a large prehistoric lake where the town of Monmouth now stands. Neolithic Monmouth may have been exporting state-of-the art boats via the Wye Valley to the rest of Europe.

Meanwhile just up the road there are on-going excavations in Trellech, site of one of the largest medieval towns in Wales until the Black Death. The recently launched Monmouthshire Museum Supporters Scheme, a partnership of Monmouth, Abergavenny and Chepstow Museums will hopefully help promote this rich historical heritage.

Partnership has been the buzz phrase for local authorities in Wales for some time now and I’m sure many will share my bemusement that all the voluntary mergers proposed by some councils in Wales have been rejected by the same Welsh Government that sought them! Thankfully Monmouthshire County Council didn’t participate in this flawed process.

The post-war history of local government in Wales has been one of costly reorganisations which never delivers the benefits or savings we are initially promised. Yes local authorities should work more closely together – perhaps in a combined authorities model similar to Greater Manchester - and we should look at delivering some services on a more regional basis but I cannot support the abolition of Monmouthshire which has generally served its communities well over the last 20 years and is a place many people, including their Assembly Member, are happy to call home.