A proposed tidal gateway across Morecambe Bay could generate billions of pounds for the Lancashire and Cumbria economies.

That’s according to Alan Torevell the chairman of North West Energy Squared (NWE2), the organisation behind the plans.

The Morecambe Bay tidal gateway is still in the planning stages but Mr Torevell believes that the project could begin to come to fruition over the next two years.

The plans for a potential £8 billion tidal gateway are due to be exhibited at The Platform in Morecambe on February 8 and 9, and Mr Torevell has huge hopes for the project in terms of generating billions of pounds for the local area.

He said: “The benefits are multiple, a tidal gateway would generate green electricity, improving connectivity between Cumbria and Lancashire and would begin to position the North West as a world leader of this kind of electricity generation.

“In simple terms, the project could generate seven million megawatt hours of electricity which is the equivalent power generation of one of the power stations at Heysham, and with improved technology and turbine design they’re more efficient than ever.

“The Rance tidal power station is now fifty years old and they’ve not had a problem with it and in the decades that have followed the turbines have improved and you can now generate electricity using both the ebb and flow of the tides.”

Taking eight years to complete, the Morecambe Bay today gateway would require investment of over £8 billion, with 50 per cent coming from both the private and public sectors.

The proposed route would o from the Heysham area, across to Rampside with a road running around Barrow to Askam with a smaller gateway running across to Millom.

The chairman remains confident that the project could begin in the next two years and has been meeting with essential players in the development to speed the process along.

He said: “When I say that we could begin in the next two years, people tend to laugh, but I’m in London meeting with Crown Estates to discuss the plans and how best to get the operation moving forward.

“They’ve been extremely helpful and have suggested that the best way would be to get a Parliamentary Bill passed which is why I’m also meeting with the Department of Energy and Climate Change to see if they can fully get behind it.

“I’m hoping to get all eight of the local MPs on board with the plans and having spoken to some of them I do think it’s the kind of project that could get momentum cross party.”

Currently in the research stages, NWE2, is developing papers on both the economic benefits to the region in terms of job creation and the environmental impact.

Mr Torevell explained: “We’re already researching the amount of power the tidal flow would generate across the whole gateway, and the research into the environmental impact is due to begin in the next two to three weeks.

“We’ve been working with a group of professional environmentalists, from the Universities of Liverpool, Bangor and Lancaster to do a report on Morecambe Bay and to review the impact this kind of development would have both on the wildlife as well as the environmental impact.

“With the improved connectivity, there’s an incredibly strong argument to be made for improving the environmental impact for reducing the amount of time cars are on the roads from from an hour and 50 minutes down to 24 minutes and saving 72 million litres of fuel in a year.”