The continued granting of licenses to extract sand from our coastline is a grossly immoral act. Our beautiful beaches are a pleasure for everyone. The effects of this dredging is now apparent to anyone who has been a regular visitor to Gower Beaches over the last couple of decades. It's not just the more remote bays which are showing the signs, it's also evident in the more accessible and therefore more popular beaches like Oxwich and Port Eynon.
The WAG's excuse is that there is no proven link between 50 years of dredging and beach errosion... how about a cessation of dredging for at least 20 years to observe the possible results?
Nigel Roberts
10 comments:
It has been extremely alarming to notice the number of Public Servants from extremely relevant departments and Agencies who have requested to be Removed from our information mailing list. Does this indicate a lack of interest in their chosen field or political fear of their peers?
'Welsh beaches are being ruined by dredging'
Jan 16 2007
Martin Shipton, Western Mail
WELSH beaches are being ruined by dredging that plunders more than a million tonnes of sand every year from our coastline, say environmentalists.
A postcard from the 1950s shows hordes of holidaymakers enjoying a summer's day on the golden sands of Rest Bay, Porthcawl.
Today the same beach is barely recognisable, even taking into account the seasonal difference. There is much less sand, the rocks are more prominent, and visitors are increasingly likely to find themselves walking through alluvial mud.
Increasing concern over the removal of sand from our beaches for use in the construction industry has prompted a campaign group to call for a moratorium on further dredging.
The Porthcawl Environment Trust, which has drawn particular attention to what it sees as the destruction of Rest Bay, says the Welsh Assembly Government should take urgent action to protect the coastline.
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Official figures confirm that more than a million tonnes of "aggregates" a year continue to be removed from the Welsh coastline at nine locations - Barry, Briton Ferry, Burry Port, Cardiff, Newport, Pembroke, Penrhyn, Port Talbot and Swansea.
Gary Victor, who chairs the Trust, said, "We began being concerned about the immediate area, but the more we have looked into it, it's clear that many parts of Wales are affected.
"Tourism brochures try to give the impression that the Glamorgan Heritage Coast is full of sandy beaches that are unchanged from 50 years ago.
"Yet in fact they are very different from how they used to be, because of the huge amounts of sand removed with the approval of the Assembly Government every year.
"This is a serious environmental issue, yet it is very difficult to get big players like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth interested.
"It's time the Assembly Government realised the extent of the damage that has been done and took action to stop any further dredging.
"I am sure that construction companies could easily find alternative sources of sand. I recently visited Morocco, where there are huge quantities of sand from the Sahara that are encroaching on developed areas."
Mr Victor continued, "Obviously the removal of such large quantities of sand from our beaches will have an unwanted impact on tourism in Wales, but in the context of concerns about climate change it could also pose an increased risk of flooding. Offshore sand acts as a sea defence, and dredging could make the Welsh coast more vulnerable."
The Assembly Government, which issues dredging licences to private companies, said the practice was due to cease off Porthcawl in 2010. It also said that decisions on granting licences had been taken after considering comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment reports. Increased monitoring has taken place since the last licence was granted in February 2003.
For local residents like Nyfa Saunders, who has an impressively assembled album of postcards showing Porthcawl in its leisure heyday, the failure to protect the coastline is a disgrace.
"When I was a child, it was possible to step off the promenade steps straight on to a sandy beach," she said. "What we have now is not comparable in any way. It's a great shame."
Mr Victor fears the damage to the Welsh coastline was irreversible.
"When you compare the amount of sand that was on the beach in Rest Bay 50 years ago with the situation today, it is clear that dredging has had an enormous impact," he said.
"Most of the sand taken from around the coastline of Wales is along the Bristol Channel. The coastline on the other side of the Channel in North Devon has relatively little sand and is rocky, which is why dredging is not done over there. Local people can remember when cricket was played on Scarweather Sands, about four miles off the coast of Porthcawl, but the massive amount of sand taken by dredging in recent years stopped that.
"Sand is moved round according to the tides. In the winter, sand is taken offshore and deposited beneath the sea, returning to the shoreline in spring. But as the quantity of sand has declined through dredging, there has been less available to return to the beaches.
"Once sand has been taken away, it is not easy to replace. Who would pay for the millions of tonnes that have been removed from the Welsh coastline over decades to be reinstated?
"What should happen, however, is a moratorium on any further sand removal."
Most of the Welsh coastline is owned by the Crown Estate, whose revenue goes to the Treasury. But the decision on whether dredging should take place rests with the Welsh Assembly Government.
Mr Victor said, "When the Welsh Assembly Government last renewed licensing rights for dredging in 2003, it issued them for the maximum possible period of seven years. Until 2010, therefore, a million tonnes [a year] of sand will continue to be removed from the Welsh coastline. So far as I am concerned, this is little better than a burglar's charter."
In a letter to the chief executive of the Crown Estate, Roger Bright, written in the wake of Hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans, Mr Victor stated, "We are told that Admiralty charts show that Nash Bank, a major sea defence for this area, is now half its size compared to 30 years ago. Figures from the Welsh Assembly show that you have sold over 110m tonnes of this finite resource over the past 50 years, and many people estimate that beach levels are now two or even three metres lower as a result.
"The loss of life and devastation that can result from storm surges in areas of low land must be taken seriously and not dismissed or forgotten ... Public attention is continually being focused on the fact that sea levels are rising and will go on rising, while your business activities are continually lowering our beach levels and sea defences. The combination of allowing greater volumes of water on to the foreshore by selling off our sea defences and lowering our beach levels, plus continual higher sea levels, is of concern to us and should be to you."
Mr Victor did not receive a reply to his letter from Mr Bright.
A spokeswoman for the Welsh Assembly Government said, "The environmental impact of marine minerals dredging has always been a key consideration in deciding whether to issue commercial dredging licences. The Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats Directives have been applied in the decision process for many years.
"This process will be further strengthened when a new statutory framework for regulating marine-dredged minerals comes into force at the end of March this year and dredging on Nash Bank will cease completely in 2010."
Gower SOS
Opposition to dredging from the vast Helwick sand bank off Gower has grown as large areas of bare rock have replaced what were once golden sands on many of the peninsula's beaches.
Port Eynon and Horton have been affected in particular and the fact Gower was made Britain's first official Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty 50 years ago has given added sensitivity to the situation.
In 2001, more than 30,000 people signed a petition calling for a moratorium on dredging until it could be proved there was no link between sand loss and dredging.
Aggregate companies involved in taking hundreds of thousands of tonnes of sand a year from Helwick and other local banks have claimed there is no link.
And they have pointed out there may be a need for huge gravel pits to be sunk in inland areas such as Pontarddulais or the Usk valley if offshore dredging is ever banned.
Dredging opponents say the issue is simple: sand should not be extracted until it can be proved conclusively the practice does not rob near by beaches of their sand.
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The issue has united Gower's tourist officials, farmers, residents and community councils.
Pressure group Gower Save Our Sands (Gower SOS) feels local people have been "betrayed" by the failure of successive Government and latterly Welsh Assembly officials to ban dredging.
Spokesman Mike Jenkins said, "The politicians have turned their backs on the will of the people."
Mr Jenkins says the long-term future of the Gower as an area of outstanding natural beauty was in jeopardy due to dredging.
He said, "The bank is a glacial sand relic and is a finite resource.
"Once it has gone it will not replace itself.
"So much sand has been dredged along the shoreline that the beaches have dropped dramatically - by four to five feet in some places.
"Where there was once beautiful golden sands there are now bedrock and peat.
"We really rely so heavily on tourism if they take away the reason why people come to the Gower, the beaches, people will stop coming.
"We'd like to see a ten mile ban on commercial dredging off the shoreline."
Dredging at Helwick Bank started in the 1950s, although initially only in small amounts. It resumed in 1993 and around 500,000 cubic metres had been removed by 2002.
Campaigners have uncovered pictures of beaches taken in the 1930s and '40s on Gower and compared them with modern pictures. Many show how sand has retreated.
I have lived in Swansea for 34 years. The sea has become cleaner, but now the sand is disappearing due almost certainly to dredging. The only way to be sure is stop dredging and see the difference over several years. Once the reputation of Gower for fine beaches is damaged the local economy will inevitably suffer. Sand can be 'mined' on land.
geoff thomas, wales
I have grown up living in Gower and remember beaches covered in thick layers of golden sand. Many of Gower's beaches have become so depleted of this resource that it is quite evident with the naked eye, without measuring in any way that thousands of tonnes have been washed out.
Port-Eynon beach is a case in point. Until a few years ago this was one of the most popular beaches in the peninsula, due to the beauty and relative safety of the bay, and the deep sand, which was so good for children playing.
Nowadays, there are large areas of fossil forest and mud flats exposed where there once was sand. Changing both the physical view of the beach, and the possibilities for activities.
Stuart Henderson, Wales
I've been going to Gower for holidays for more than 30 years. One beach in particular - Mewslade - was always a favourite. However, it's become increasingly barren and rocky over the last few years. This isn't just my imagination - photos taken in the past prove it. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realise there's probably a link between offshore sand dredging and sandless beaches.
John Coutts, UK
I have surfed the Gower for the last 20 years and there is very little doubt in my mind that there has been a dramatic decrease in the quantity of sand covering some of the most beautiful beaches the UK has to offer. The dredging companies claim this is just part of the natural cyclical process, but I find it worrying that this so called "natural" process has coincided with the dramatic increase in dredging of the sandbanks in the area.
Kev, Wales
SOS have been doing excellent work raising awareness of the issues and linking this both to action on the ground to improve the situation, and practical steps that supporters can take. I would like to fully commend their work!
Duncan Holtom, UK
I am so glad that you have found space for this important local issue. We are loosing our beaches and only SOS seem to be making a stand.
C.Thomas, Wales
I fully support the SOS campaign, I haven't been to any of the events but I have felt strongly enough about the issue to write to the Assembly about this issue. As a surfer and a resident of Swansea it is apparent to me that we are losing our precious beeches and the eventually this will drive tourism out of the Gower.
Gareth thomas, G. Britain
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