Posted on November 3, 2016
Campaigners opposing plans to dredge a sandbank off the Kent coast have taken their fight to Downing Street.
Dover Harbour Board (DHB) plans to use 2.5 million cubic metres of aggregate from Goodwin Sands for port expansion.
Goodwin Sands SOS claims the site contains war graves and dredging it would also threaten a “unique seabed habitat”.
But DHB said it was avoiding all known military sites and this option had the least overall environmental impact.
Handing in a 12,000-signature petition at 10 Downing Street, campaigner Fiona Punter said: “It is where many brave young men fell during the Battle of Britain.
“They were Churchill’s few and we believe it is our duty to honour those few and there are better sources of aggregate in the area.”
Campaigner Joanna Thompson said: “It stores the shipwrecks, the mariners’ graves and the war graves from Battle of Britain pilots. Their locations are unknown and they should not be disturbed.”
Media captionCampaigners say the sandbank should not be dredged
Ms Thompson said there were other sites in the Channel that DHB could get aggregates from.
The DHB, who have applied to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) for a licence to dredge the site, said more than 99% of the Goodwin Sands would be left untouched and the proposed area was the option with least overall environmental impact.
It said it avoids seal haul-out sites and sensitive seabed habitats by establishing exclusion zones around them and all known military sites have been identified and avoided.
‘Massive benefit’
Conservative MP for Dover and Deal Charlie Elphicke said: “This sand is going to be used to make a serious and major development at Dover Harbour which will be of massive benefit to our community.”
But he added: “These are very important considerations, deeply held by more than 11,000 people who have signed the petition.
“I am saying to the MMO, take these concerns seriously and look into them properly when making the decision.”
Source: BBC News
