Council asks permission to shore up Pagham beach against flooding

Arun District Council has applied for planning permission to place 30,000 cubic metres of shingle along 1.4km of the frontage.

It will go on the area close to the sailing club. Work should start in the middle of next month for three weeks.

A second phase is due to take place between the end of next March until mid-April.

The completion of the 450,000 scheme will reduce the risk of flooding to a 1-in-200 event for 76 commercial and residential properties on the Pagham Beach estate.

This will stop some 1.6m of damage being caused to the buildings. Failure to act will see the erosion increase and put 5.9m worth of properties at risk from flooding within a decade.

A report by the council's engineering consultants, Royal Haskoning, said: "Current beach levels have demonstrated an immediate need for shingle material to be imported in order to raise the standard of defence to acceptable levels, preferably before the winter of 2009-10."

The application by Arun's principal engineer, Roger Spencer, will be considered by the council's planning officers.

It follows alarm in the past three years from residents and councillors about the rate of erosion to the beach in front of East Front Road and West Front Road.

The usual cycle of erosion and replenishment of the beach has been broken. Tidal patterns have changed as a new spit has built up in Pagham Harbour.

But action to deal with the situation is complicated by the heavily-protected nature reserve in the harbour and the various other environmental safeguards along the surrounding stretch of the coast.

This has caused anger among some homeowners. Royal Haskoning says the placement of the shingle will be carried out without any impact on birds such as little terns, little egrets and Cetti's warblers which nest in the area.

Conservation watchdog Natural England has backed the proposals.

The first stage of the work will see 10,000 cubic metres of shingle taken from the newly-formed spit. This will be delivered in trucks on a special route along the frontage at low tide.

The second phase will involve 20,000 cubic metres which have been dredged offshore and delivered by barge at high tide on 19 days.

The result will be a beach crest about 4.5m above high tide and some 25m wide.

But Royal Haskoning warns they are only a short-term solution to the erosion problem.

A more permanent management plan needs to be finalised within the next five to ten years.

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