NEWS the government is to carry out a feasibility study into the potential for a Severn Barrage was "warmly welcomed" by Newport West MP Paul Flynn.

Business and Enterprise Secretary John Hutton announced the multi-million pound study yesterday at the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth.

"For more than 20 years it has been the hope of many people living along the estuary that we can use this immense source of untapped power," said Mr Flynn.

"It seems extraordinary we haven't used the power of the tide in the past."

He added that the pressure was intensifying to find clean, renewable sources of energy.

The plan would exploit a hydroelectric dam filled by the tidal waters of the Severn Estuary.

It has long been a controversial issue in Gwent, with wildlife environmental groups warning of the devastation it could wreak.

At yesterday's conference Mr Hutton called the Severn Barrage a "truly visionary project" which could supply five per cent of the UK's renewable energy supplies by 2020.

The study will consider the project's impact on the natural environment and local social and economic effects, as well as how it could be financed.

He added that construction must not go ahead without consideration of the impact on people who live and work in the area - as well as the many beauty-spots and wildlife havens in the estuary.

The Severn Tidal Power Group, a consortium of six leading builders, including Balfour Beatty, that want to build the barrage, held a fringe event at the conference.

Julian Branscombe, chief executive of Gwent Wildlife Trust has told the Argus the plan should have been "ruled out from the start".

The estuary contains mudflats, saltmarshes, rocky islands and food that support some 65,000 birds in winter.

The RSPB's conservation director Mark Avery yesterday warned it would do "enormous damage" to their environment.