WOOD: Helping yourself would have led to mayhem

I SAW Worthing beach on Day One, and it was obvious to me then that the removal of our wood would have to be on an immense scale, and in doing that it would all be worthless, once the sea and the necessary machinery had done its work.
By The Newsroom
Published 18th Feb 2008, 12:21 BST
Updated 8th Jun 2018, 00:54 BST

A man said to me on that day "...Hmmm, plenty of wood here to build a chicken coop..."

All around, as far as the eye could see, were perfectly serviceable and undamaged planks.

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It is indeed very annoying to think that all this wood is to be chipped, taken away and burned, and that local people cannot have even a few bits and pieces.

I think it is worth pointing out what might have happened if local people had been allowed to take some wood.

How would anyone know who was "local"?

I'm sure we would have had an invasion of goodness knows who from far and wide, with lorries and vans all over the prom and beach, just collecting a "few planks", ploughing it all up, causing traffic and parking mayhem, arguments and strife, a nightmare for the police, and making an even worse mess for someone else to have to clear up, and pay for.

It's really annoying as I don't like to see useful things wasted, but letting people take wood could have led to far worse problems than we have already.

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It's fascinating to watch the clear-up: it reminded me of Thunderbirds, looking at all the machinery.

They face an awesome task on a biblical scale really, and the fact that this can be accomplished in a reasonable time without total disruption to the town is to everyone's great credit.

It is a situation which could very easily have descended into chaos, and I think it is also to everyone's great credit here in Worthing that that has not been allowed to happen.

It's a once in a lifetime freak event, and I will continue to watch it all unfold with great interest.

Rosemary Jones

West Avenue

Worthing