All it takes is a few more winter storms

The warning was given by a senior engineer as Arun district councillors urged action to halt the erosion along the West Front Road and East Front Road beach.

Head of infrastructure, works and engineering David Green said: "If we get a bad storm, let's be honest about this, there's a great risk to the residents of Pagham."

Some two metres of the five metre wide ridge of shingle which protects the low-lying area from the sea has been eaten away by the waves in just seven months.

A further 10-15m of beach separates the ridge from the nearest homes but this area slopes down to the housing to offer little protection from the waves.

But action to halt the potentially dangerous situation may not even happen by next winter.

Any work on the frontage has to go through a nationally-laid down procedure which involves the Environment Agency approving grants.

The process is complicated by the presence in Pagham of sites of special scientific interest and the nearby harbour nature reserve. Four bird species which live in the area are protected by European laws. This brings Natural England into the process.

Pagham Parish Council chairman Cllr Ray Radmall, a Pagham Beach estate resident for 35 years, told Arun's members about the serious situation along Pagham's beach.

After the meeting, he said he feared a strong wind added to a high tide would force the sea into residential areas.

"Work needs to be on the beach by next winter. Once the sea gets to the top of the ridge, it's downhill to the housing," he explained.

He contrasted the delays with the urgent action taken last summer to protect nesting little terns in the harbour.

"A way needs to be found through the protocols and procedures. People are going to say that birds are more important than humans.

"That's such a shame, because Pagham people have always supported the nature reserve, but there is going to be antagonism growing up if Natural England delays matters," said Cllr Radmall.

Arun's cabinet agreed to spend 120,000 to undertake a detailed study to find a viable solution, budgeted at 1.2m, to tackling the increased erosion at Pagham.

But the study will only take place if the money can be obtained from the Environment Agency.

In the meantime, all preliminary action for the work to take place will be carried out by the council's officers.

A protocol to deal with flooding in Pagham also will be drawn up to supplement Arun's existing emergency procedures.

Mr Green said Arun would not get the money backdated if it carried out the study before any grant arrived.

But the EA's project appraisal board might not consider the matter until next March.

He said the detailed study was needed to identify why the tides off Pagham had changed in the past few years to deposit shingle on offshore spits rather than the beach.

'We just can't go down there, bring a barge in, dumped tonnes of rock on to the bar and say we have plugged the hole,' he stated. Any work would also need to be approved by the EA before it provided the funding.

But councillors wanted action quickly. Cllr Robin Brown said: 'We are at the beginning of winter. A few storms like we had the other day and the rest of those few metres would go.

'The sea would then start eroding the area which protects the area of homes.

'We are between a rock and a hard place as far as I can see. Even if we do the study, we can't afford to do the work.'

Cllr Norman Dingemans said: 'My concern is that, before we actually do anything, it may be too late.'