Blundering environmental experts charged with providing a major report on the Severn Barrage for the Government have described two West towns as being in Wales.

Consultants Parsons Brinckerhoff Ltd are producing a report about harnessing the power of the river's tidal current and turning it into electricity.

But it seems the multi-national company thinks the Forest of Dean is in Wales and not Gloucestershire, saying Lydney and Cinderford are major Welsh towns.

But one senior Forest of Dean district councillor defended the report's authors – saying they are not the only ones confused about the location of the Forest.

Cllr Patrick Molyneux says the area must work harder to put itself on the map or face losing out to its neighbours in Wales and the Cotswolds.

He spoke out as senior councillors discussed the draft Gloucestershire Economic Strategy. He said it was important the district checked such weighty policy documents to make sure the Forest was named so it could benefit from any initiatives that resulted from them.

He said: "As an enclave we're easily forgotten. We have to stand up and shout as loud as we can to let people know we are here.

"For instance, one document outlining the economic impact of the Severn barrage put Lydney and Cinderford in Wales. This was an important consultation and they didn't even know where we were geographically."

He added: "We can't afford to get lost in these things. It's important they know. We don't want them thinking we can turn to the Welsh Assembly for help."

The consultants' report studied the regional economy covering Wales and South West England.

It considered the value of activities such as angling that could be affected by any barrage and was instrumental in the Government's decision to press ahead with a feasibility study into the scheme.

It also misspelt the name of the village of Rogiet in the same list which misplaced Lydney and Cinderford.

According to the report: "The wider study area is a largely rural landscape, however it contains a number of principal cities and towns.

"As such, the broad baseline receptors identified in this topic paper are as follows: (a) Welsh urban population: Llanelli, Swansea, Port Talbot, Porthcawl, Bridgend, Barry, Cardiff, Newport, Rogret, Lydney, Cinderford."

A spokesman for Parsons Brinckerhoff Ltd said: "This was an unfortunate transcription error which has no wider implication on the study. Other place name references are correctly stated elsewhere in this large study. The text error has now been corrected. We are grateful for your feedback on this matter."

The report was commissioned for Lord Peter Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

He would know exactly where Cinderford and Lydney are because he spent years living a few miles away in Foy near Ross-on-Wye.

It is not the first time that areas of England have been shunted off to Wales.

During BBC2's Oz and James Drink to Britain starring wine connoisseur Oz Clarke and Top Gear's James May, one of the duo mistakenly thinks they are in Wales when they visit a pear cider brewery in Herefordshire.

May arrives at the farm in the rain to be met by perry cider maker Dennis Watkins.

May asks him: "Does it always rain in Wales, is it true?"

Mr Watkins replies: "This isn't Wales – Hereford."