A flood of imports

FURTHER to my letter “Is steel British?” (Gazette, April 4), I have now ascertained the reason why Andrew Gillam, the Environment Agency’s flood and coastal risk manager, made no mention of the fillip that the manufacture of 3,000 tons of steel for Littlehampton’s flood defences should have given our struggling steel industry.

The reason is that the steel was fabricated in Belgium and imported by a Dutch contractor.

This blow to the British steel industry will doubtless assist the agency to balance its books, but any purported “saving” is at the expense of our industrial base. It begs the question why, if a Government agency is not prepared to invest in British industry, should anyone else?

Apropos John Morris’ letter “Market vision” (Gazette, April 4), about the use of local contractors, we should at least be grateful that the Dutch contractor had the foresight to use the port of Littlehampton in preference to Shoreham harbour, which seems to have usurped the aggregates trade from which Littlehampton previously benefited.

K. W. Grimes

Broadmark Avenue

Rustington