Going ahead '“ Pagham's £1m sea defence scheme

Arun District Council's cabinet members voted unanimously to back the project to shore up the eroding coastline on the Pagham Beach estate.

The decision was an important step in getting work under way to protect the vulnerable coastline.

It allows the council to seek formal approval from the Environment Agency for the works. The agency has the ultimate say in whether coast protection goes ahead. It is expected to give the go-ahead for the Pagham scheme in the next four months.

The agency will pay for the protection for 350 properties to be carried out through a grant to the council.

Failure to act will see the first houses reached by the waves in 20 years and 160 properties lost in the next century.

Roger Spencer, Arun's principal coastal engineer, said the heavily-protected nature reserve in Pagham Harbour meant work was restricted to times which would leave nesting birds '“ subject to European laws '“ undisturbed.

"This gives us two months '“ next September and October '“ within which to do the works. They are certainly 'do-able' in that time.

"I understand people's concerns we are not in there tomorrow doing the work, but I am sure we can get it sorted out without any undue concerns."

The scheme which Arun has backed involves moving thousands of tonnes of shingle from a spit which has built up on the Church Norton side of the harbour.

The spit's appearance has affected the area's tidal patterns to cause erosion on the frontage of East Front Road and West Front Road.

The shingle will be moved onto that frontage to replenish a beach crest which eroded by ten per cent '“ from 30m to 27m '“ in just one storm last March.

But Mr Spencer stressed shingle-shifting was only a short-term solution. "It will give us some respite," he stated.

A longer-term strategy is being devised by the Environment Agency around a flexible approach depending on how the coastline changes in the next few years.

Cllr Roger Elkins, Arun's coast protection boss, said: "This highlights the cost of coast protection works. All we are doing here is just moving shingle really.

"Because of this location, there are a number of constraints on what we can do and what can be carried out without harming the environment.

"There has been a lot of liaison with the residents and I can understand their concerns. But these things are never as quick as we would want them to be."

An emergency action plan has been compiled by the district council to cope with flooding in Pagham this winter. This sets out how the council will react according to the extent of the damage to the beach.

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