It's time for action to save Pagham shoreline

Cllr Deborah Urquhart said: "This is a high priority because decisions will need to be made quickly to ensure a satisfactory standard of defence is maintained at Pagham beach."

It was important to understand the coastal processes that were putting 160 properties on Pagham beach and a further 350 nearby properties at risk of flooding.

Quick fixes which could make the long-term situation worse should be avoided.

But the need to protect the 300 hectares of land which could be inundated by the waves meant solutions had to be found soon, said Cllr Urquhart, who is in charge of the county council's environment and economy policies.

Her comments formed part of the council's response to the consultation being carried out by the Environment Agency into its preferred policy of 'adaptive management' for the vulnerable coastline between Pagham and Church Norton.

This includes the Pagham Harbour nature reserve, which the county council manages, and is an area dominated by natural tidal movements operating on the extensive shingle deposits that form the beaches and seabed.

These shingle deposits are very mobile and are forming a huge spit of material at the harbour mouth that is considerably altering erosion patterns in the area.

The policy, included in the draft coastal defence strategy for the coastline, is being broadly backed by the county council.

It says the quantities of shingle are so large and the processes so dynamic that engineering solutions may be impractical.

Meanwhile, Arun District Council has revealed the initial findings of a 120,000 study by engineering consultants into the Pagham beach coastline.

This concluded Pagham Spit at the harbour mouth is growing in size because shingle is being continuously deposited at it its eastern end by the sea.

By removing this extra material, and using it to bolster the existing shingle banks along the beach front, it will provide added protection to Pagham.

This was considered at a meeting between Arun's engineers and Pagham Parish Council last Friday to be the most appropriate solution to provide protection in the short term.

The details of the scheme are still being refined by Arun.

Its engineers expect to be ready soon to apply to the Environment Agency for the 1m-plus needed for the work in 2009-10 and beyond.

A final report about the scheme will be published in November.

An Arun spokeswoman said: "Residents are understandably concerned about the potential for coastal erosion.

"We have been working hard in the months running up to winter to look at how we can provide Pagham beach residents with coastal defences that will help withstand winter storms in the years to come."

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