Misled on the Severn

Many of your readers will have been misled by your front page article "Power plan for River Severn" on November 16. Your article only tells a small part of a much bigger story.

The Severn Navigation Restoration Trust (SNRT), which want to build inflatable weirs across the Severn, has stated in its constitution that its primary aim is to make the middle and upper Severn open to boat traffic.

For several decades it has made unsuccessful attempts to achieve this under different guises. None of these attempts used the pretext of generating power, but this is the latest fashionable excuse.

The middle and upper Severn is a river of truly outstanding beauty. Building a series of weirs to raise the water level will kill its wild and natural beauty.

You only have to look at the river at Stourport and below to see how dead the middle and upper reaches would become.

The Environment Agency has produced excellent reports reviewing the future potential of the river.

It repeatedly stresses that the natural beauty is a valuable asset to be preserved and that the natural pursuits such as angling, rambling, bird watching and canoeing enrich both people's lives and the economy.

The view is supported by at least 30 national and local organisations which are opposed to the canalisation of the middle and upper reaches.

Future generations would never forgive us if we allowed this to happen.

The sudden interest of SNRT in generating power is so obviously opportunistic. If that really is its true objective, why not consider using existing weirs at Stourport and below where the volume of water is greater?

There is sadly an increasing tendency for the wealth of minority interests to use public relations consultants to mislead us and our institutions. Look at the name Severn Navigation Restoration Trust.

How can canalising the river be called restoration? And the word "trust" has no legal significance in this context but is cunningly used to imply integrity.

The final insult by SNRT to our intelligence however is to associate the name of Charles Darwin with their objectives when wildlife organisations strongly oppose their aims! Friends of the River Severn beware!

Dr D A Evans, Bewdley.