Beach 'in sad and serious condition'

A CROWD of supporters turned out to a council meeting to back one man's quest for a better beach in Seaford.

Jim Skinner, of Denton, gave a presentation to Seaford Town Council and members of the public on Thursday last week.

Mr Skinner, who is chairman of the Friends of Tide Mills, has lived in the Seahaven area for more than 45 years, moving to Bishopstone in 1961.

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A committed environmentalist, he knows Seaford Bay well and believes there is a case for change in the way the beach is managed.

Seaford has a wide shingle bank which gets 're-aligned' by bulldozers twice a year for the Environment Agency. Shingle is moved from the Tide Mills area back to Seaford as a flood prevention measure. However, steep shingle 'cliffs' result, making access to the sea difficult.

Mr Skinner believes that a new approach such as an artificial offshore reef would improve flood defences and help the beach become a better amenity.

He said that over the last few years he had become 'increasingly concerned about the sad and deteriorating condition of Seaford Bay beach'.

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Mr Skinner had been watching the beach for many years and in his view it was effectively decaying to the point that only the fittest could use it in safety.

He said: 'Seaford deserves better. To date, about 1,100 local people and visitors have voiced their concerns by way of petition.'

The reef idea has been developed over the last two to three years and began with Mr Skinner's growing concern for both the deteriorating integrity and amenity value of Seaford beach and also Tide Mills.

He added: 'It is now very clear to a substantial number of local people, particularly those who remember and have known Seaford over a long period of time, that the beach has never been in such a sad and serious condition as it is now.'

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He said his reef idea would hopefully stabilise the beach whose defence against flooding was slowly but steadily deteriorating.

'In a nutshell, the beach is losing shingle and will continue to do so unless a way is found to keep it in place,' he said.

He has asked both Seaford and Newhaven town councils to agree that the shingle re-alignment strategy cannot be considered sustainable or acceptable in the long-term.

He wants councillors to accept the beach is in slow but steady decline both as a flood defence for the town and also as an essential element in the economic future of Seaford and the wider bay area.

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Mr Skinner called for a serious review into alternatives to the existing flood defence strategy. These, he said should provide for more permanent and robust flood defences and restore the beach to the year round amenity it once was.

Seaford Town Council members said they were not making a decision about the beach yet but agreed to hear Mr Skinner's presentation.

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