The �200m Cardiff Bay barrage is opened to the public on the day the development corporation which created it is wound up.

The low-key ceremony - involving the unveiling of a small plaque on the barrage - marked the end of an era in Cardiff Bay.

In the past 13 years, Cardiff Bay Development Corporation has spent �500m of public money effecting the dramatic transformation of the once decaying docklands.

But the achievement is still well short of the regeneration targets set back in the late 80s.

Only half the 30,000 promised jobs have been created - and only 3,500 out of 6,000 promised new homes have been built.

Controversial

The corporation said it was confident the targets would be met and would be exceeded over the next few years.

It said the new businesses and residents that had arrived in the area now returned �174m a year in rates and taxes back to the public purse.

The barrage has always been hugely controversial.

The mudflats at the mouths of the tidal rivers Taff and Ely had sustained huge numbers of waterbirds and the area was considered a site of international importance for migrating wildlife.

The barrage meant flooding the mudflats permanently creating a 500-acre lake.

Flooding

Friends of the Earth and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds waged a 10-year campaign against the plan.

The pressure groups took their challenge to the dam as far as Europe.

But the economic benefits to south east Wales outweighed the environmental concerns and the EU let the scheme go ahead as a special case.

Under the deal with the EU, compensation for the loss of the mudflats meant creating a new wildlife habitat by flooding 1,000 acres of farmland, 15 miles further along the coast in the Gwent Levels, with sewage water.

Efficiency

A higher-profile campaign was waged by Cardiff West MP - and now Welsh Assembly First Secretary - Rhodri Morgan.

He voiced the fears of many Cardiff people that the barrage would raise groundwater levels across the city that could lead to flooding.

As late as last year, that fear appeared to be close to realisation when the Environment Agency - which has to issue a licence for the barrage to operate - raised concerns over the efficiency of the computer system controlling the water levels.

But manual control replaced the system until new procedures were put in place and the licence was finally extended.