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Published:
September 29, 2007
New
Burnham-On-Sea study asks: Will dredging ruin our beaches?
Burnham-On-Sea
town councillors have tasked a Bristol-based team of university
researchers to carry out a study into whether controversial plans
to extract 15 million tonnes of sand from the Bristol Channel
will change our local beaches.
Dredging
firms want to remove the huge quantities of material from Culver
Sands, halfway between Watchet and the South Wales coast, as they
claim it is badly needed to build new homes, but there are fears
that the dredging could starve local beaches of sand and speed
up erosion.
Burnham's
planning applications committee have just discussed the proposals
and recommended that the University of the West Of England be
approached to give "an impartial, informed opinion on the
matter."
The
council has recommended that several hundred pounds be made available
for the study, the results of which are expected to be available
in October.
It
comes as the dredging application, from the Resource Management
Association (RMA) consortium, reaches a final round of consultation
and a decision from the Government is now due before Christmas.
 Brean
Parish Council is among the local groups worried about the plans.
Chairman Joan Jackman said this week: "There
is no doubt that our beach is lower than it used to be. We don't
want to lose any more beach."
Berrow
Parish Council is also due to discuss the plans shortly and has
in the past objected.
Somerset
Wildlife Trust has also objected to the scheme because of concerns
about minerals being used up, erosion and the effects on local
ecology.
However,
Somerset County Council noted in a previous consultation that
"there is no evidence to confirm that there is no link between
dredging and coastal erosion," but it said caution should
be taken.
If
the RMA - which is made up of dredging firms Hanson, UMA and Cemex
- gets the nod and its application is given a green light, it
will be able to extract one million tonnes of sand a year from
Culver for the next 15 years.
Each
year, 506,000 tonnes of sand from the Bristol Channel are brought
to Avonmouth, 52,000 tonnes to Dunball Wharf near Burnham, and
70,000 to Appledore in North Devon. Another 1.2 million tonnes
are landed in South Wales.
A
final decision on the Culver dredging will be made by Hilary Benn,
Secretary of State for the Environment.
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