Harbour mouth crisis - no cash to sort it out

Five years after the silt and shingle bar just outside the harbour entrance was dredged to improve access for shipping, most of it has been replaced, posing problems not only for commercial and leisure craft, but for the harbour board's finances.

Reducing the bar five years ago cost the board more than 600,000, a sum which will continue to be paid off through loans for many years.

But harbour board members have now been told that removing the material to keep the bar at a reasonable level could cost 325,000 a year, money that neither the board, nor Arun and West Sussex County councils, which meet the harbour's deficits, are unlikely to want to spend.

And unlike in 2001, when commercial shipping made a sizeable contribution to the board's income, now only four ships a month, on average, dock at Littlehampton, nowhere near enough to make the dredging economically viable.

Board members were all too aware of the dilemma at a meeting of their business sub-committee last week, when they discussed the maximum level the bar should be allowed to reach before dredging was carried out.

Skippers of charter boats for angling and diving trips, and of some commercial fishing vessels, have already complained about the problems and potential danger posed by the growing bar, and by a separate "shoal" of shingle building up in the River Arun just inside the harbour mouth.

Board chief executive John Sharwood said a survey 12 months after the 2001 dredging showed 50 per cent of the material had been replaced and he estimated that "probably 90 per cent" of it was back now.

He added that the board had recently obtained counsel's opinion on the matter. "It says we have a legal liability to maintain a harbour for the use of shipping." That, added Mr Sharwood, included ensuring the harbour was accessible.

Board vice-chairman David Eastlake said the rising bar affected not only working boats, but larger leisure craft, too. "It seriously restricts the attractiveness of Littlehampton for big keel boats," he warned.

Ironically, the board decided to concentrate on a more leisure-focused approach for the harbour after a major commercial customer, dredging operator United Marine Aggregates (UMA), stopped using Littlehampton.

Former board chairman Dr James Walsh said it was vital that talks were held with the harbour's only remaining regular user, Tarmac, over its future plans.

"We can't fantasise about doing what we did five years ago. It's not economically feasible," he added.

Kevin Seaman, a UMA director representing commercial users on the board, also had a warning about the impact of the bar. "The more the bar builds up, the more the river speeds up, and it will become dangerous for leisure users."

The sub-committee backed member Graham Tyler's suggestion that a full report on the matter should go to the next board meeting, with a recommendation to hold talks with Arun, West Sussex and Tarmac.