PROPOSALS to harness energy from tidal lagoons could be revived if they can prove "value for money", the Welsh Secretary has suggested.

The £1.3 billion Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project was shelved in 2018 as ministers said it was too expensive, despite being backed by an independent review.

Simon Hart said the Government had not given up on tidal energy but said any future schemes would need to represent good value for the taxpayer.

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Former Tory minister David Jones asked for a meeting about a proposal for a tidal lagoon at Colwyn Bay in his north Wales constituency of Clwyd West.

Responding during a Commons debate on Wales, Mr Hart said: "There's a feeling in some quarters that perhaps we have turned our back on tidal lagoon energy.

"No, we have not and anything like that which has got good potential, offers value for money for the taxpayer, of course, I will meet him and any other colleagues who may have similarly encouraging projects to promote."

Labour's Geraint Davies (Swansea West) then asked: "Will he just reconfirm that he's looking again with fresh eyes at the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon?"

Mr Hart replied: "In answering that, I want to avoid giving the impression to the honourable gentleman that we're just going to dust off the original tidal lagoon proposal because I think that would possibly build up false hope.

"What I can say is that tidal lagoon as a concept was and remains something of significant potential for Wales and the rest of the UK but it does obviously come in at the right value for money."

The company behind the Swansea scheme, Tidal Lagoon Power, wanted subsidies similar to those for new nuclear power to build the £1.3 billion "world-first" scheme, consisting of a U-shaped sea wall with turbines in Swansea Bay.

The lagoon had been backed as a "pathfinder" project to develop the tidal technology by an independent review for the Government.