THE power of the tide at the mouth of the River Teifi could be harnessed to produce electricity for the Cardigan area.

That was one of the suggestions put forward at a meeting of the town council when the threat of climate change was debated.

Cllr Shan Williams said: “Why can’t we harness the tide here in Cardigan? We could have a feasibility study into a renewable engineering scheme and see how many homes that would supply.

“You can depend on the tide and I cannot understand why they turned down the Swansea scheme but it seems ready-made here.

“Also, we can look at the idea of a local produce supermarket. We have some of the best quality produce in the world here but we ship it out and then it is brought back and we pay a premium for it.

“Establishing such a scheme would mean money would stay locally, food miles would be less and hopefully it would grow and develop. Let’s bring everyone together and come up with a report to go to the authorities.”

Cllr Catrin Miles added: “We know our own patch better than anyone and what’s possible here.”

Cllr Clive Davies raised the whole issue of climate change and called on the town council to declare a ‘climate emergency’.

Cllr Davies said: “Extreme weather events these last two years have presented severe challenges to transport, agriculture and other services, though what we have experienced with Storm Callum and recent record temperatures in the Cardigan area is almost insignificant compared to many parts of the world.

“Unless we act on climate, we collectively face the greatest threat to our local and global environment.

“According to October’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 1.5C report, humanity has 12 years to deliver the major actions needed to turn this around, so we can avoid reaching tipping points where we no longer have the ability to avoid extreme weather events. It is clear to many of us that we must act locally and globally.

“Numerous organisations have been working tirelessly for many years to try to prevent climate change, but change must happen faster. Business as usual is clearly no longer an option.

“We need local wisdom and action to increase our resilience and to prepare for the changes already in the system. Cardigan can play its role in preventing dangerous and extreme weather events.”

Cllr Davies called for a six-point plan:

• Declare a ‘climate emergency’

• Develop an action plan over the next six months to make Cardigan net-zero carbon as soon as possible; increase local resilience to climate impacts; maximise local benefits of these actions in other sectors such as health, agriculture, transport and the economy

• Call on Ceredigion CC, Welsh and UK Government to provide the support and resources to make this possible

• Report within six months with the actions the town can take to address this emergency, for example look at our supply chain, push for more electric-car charge points

• Discuss with other organisations such as Renew Wales how they might support this process.

• Build climate action and resilience plans for Cardigan and engage the community and businesses in conversations about the future of the town