Monthly clean-up

WHILST sharing Suzanne Perrott's concerns (Gazette letters, August 6) about the effects of increased visitor numbers due to the possible re-introduction of the ferry service, I would like to point out that, for the last 10 years, the Local Nature Reserve area of West Beach has been regularly cleaned by local volunteers, led by the Arun District Council parks and greenspaces service.

The group meets regularly on the first Wednesday of each month. In recent years, numbers have been augmented by clients of the Oak Community and the Aldingbourne Trust. Verdant is also contracted by the council to remove litter from the shingle only and West Sussex Youth Offending Team cleans the beach at intervals.

The Local Nature Reserve extends as far as the marker post halfway along the beach '“ the western half of the beach is privately owned.

Litter is also monitored and removed twice a year, as part of the Marine Conservation Society's Adopt a Beach and Beachwatch programmes. These regular surveys show that litter levels are increasing annually on all the nation's beaches.

As your photograph of the strandline, used alongside the letter, showed, most of the litter is seaborne and washes up after periods of high winds and gales. Visitors' litter increases in the summer months and any means of motivating them to take it away are to be welcomed.

John and Barbara Smith

volunteer beach wardens

for West Beach

Arundel Road, Littlehampton

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