Arun adopts emergency measures for coastal pollution incidents

The council will sign an agreement to ensure quick action is taken in the event of a pollution emergency.

This could include oil spills and overboard cargo but not releases of sewage and wastewater from combined sewer overflows (CSOs) – much to the annoyance of some Environment Committee members.

ADC is responsible for cleaning up following pollution incidents on its shoreline but was previously the only council on the Sussex coast not signed up to the Sussex Coastal Pollution Clean-up and Disposal Service.

It is an agreement with international spill contractor Ambipar which means local authorities can call on the company to carry out an emergency response if needed.

Signing up has no cost to Arun unless it responds to a ‘significant pollution incident’ on one or more of its beaches.

If the council does have to respond to an incident, the agreement may help it to recoup costs from the polluter responsible.

By not being part of the agreement, the council ran the risk of having to foot the costs in an emergency – which can run into millions of pounds.

It also faced a delay in the event of a clean-up as it would have had to tender the work to appropriate specialists.

Emergency planning officer Michael Rowland said the council hadn’t had to use such a service in the past five years.

Mr Rowland added that any clean-ups following oil spills on Arun’s beaches had been charged back to the polluters once they had been identified by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

Speaking at an Environment Committee meeting on Thursday (22 September), Isabel Thurston (Green, Barnham) said signing the agreement was ‘a no-brainer’.

Paul English (Con, Felpham East) asked if the agreement could be used for sewage releases into the sea or to ask for reparations from the companies responsible, but was ultimately told this would not be possible.

“This issue is costing Arun, its residents, its environment, and its tourism massive amounts of money, ” he said.

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