Staff at the Gloucestershire business behind the proposed £1.3 billion tidal lagoon power scheme for Swansea Bay may be about to learn more about their futures.

The year started with a wave of pressure on the Government to give the go ahead to the scheme which would allow Tidal Lagoon Power to finally start work.

It was a year on from an independent review which roundly approved the project, but the Government has remained silent - leading to fears the Gloucester Quays-headquartered business could end of laying off staff.

What has emerged is that on Wednesday (May 9) two powerful Parliamentary committees will meet to demand answers over just what is the logjam holding up decision-making.

Rachel Reeves, chairwoman of one of those group, the business, energy and industrial strategy committee, reportedly said: "The Swansea Tidal Lagoon project has been a tale of indecision"

She has previously urged the Government to give investors clarity on the lagoon project.

Her committee will look at the reasons for the Government's failure to reach a decision and the steps and stakeholders involved in the decision-making process.

The Welsh Affairs committee has also announced plans to scrutinise the process to date.

Tidal Lagoon Power, headquartered at Gloucester Quays and run by Stroud businessman Mark Shorrock, has been waiting patiently for 15 months for a Government decision ever since an independent report gave the thumbs-up for its Swansea Bay scheme.

Charles Hendry's report, published in January 2017, urged the Government to go ahead with the project to build the tidal lagoon which is widely backed in Wales and seen as a major source of future jobs - and which could provide power for 120,000 homes if plans are realised.

Investors in Tidal Lagoon Power are already on record saying they will not put any more money into the business until there is a decision.

A second bigger scheme, further up the coast near Cardiff, is also expected to follow and lead to a multi-billion pound industry at the heart of which would be Tidal Lagoon Power.

A report just last month (April) on The Guardian website claimed any further delay by Government would force the company to lay off staff, but the firm told Punchline it did not know the source of this information.

No new funds are believed to have been put into the business since last summer.

"The business has sufficient funds to take it through to a decision and the trigger of our next funding round. We understand that the talks between the UK and Welsh governments have been positive and we look forward to their conclusion," said a spokesperson.

The Times newspaper has previously reported that a thousand "high-value manufacturing jobs are set to be lost in the Midlands because of the Government's continuing failure to decide whether to support tidal lagoon marine power".

Back in 2015 Tidal Lagoon Power reportedly employed almost 100 staff but numbers were knocked back to an estimated 70 as delays continued.

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