The company which runs Brighton Marina is hoping it will be third time lucky after submitting a third application to dispose of dredgings off the Sussex coast.
Premier Marinas was granted a ten-year licence to dump material off Rottingdean – as it has done since the marina was built – by the Marine Management Organisation last year.
This was overturned after Sussex Wildlife Trust successfully applied for a judicial review of the decision on the basis it hadn’t considered the environmental impact.
Premier Marinas applied for a one-year licence for the same Rottingdean site in March, but is no longer pursuing this in favour of dumping at Newhaven next year.
It wants to use the same site as Newhaven Port – but Sussex Wildlife Trust has already said it opposes this because of the potential impact of increasing how much is deposited there.
The MMO has already said disposal at Newhaven does not require a full Environmental Impact Assessment. Premier says its own assessment, ommissioned from specialist marine consultancy ABPmer, shows it would not introduce an interaction of disposed sediment with the Beachy Head marine conservation zone.
Premier Marinas says the marina may become unusable if it can’t start maintenance dredging again, and wants to restart in spring next year.
Its chief operating officer John Cervenka said: “For more than a year, there has been real uncertainty around the future of maintenance dredging at Brighton Marina.
“Getting to the point where we can submit this application is therefore an important step, but it isn’t the end of the process.
“What happens next matters to a lot of people. Berth holders, commercial operators and businesses at the marina understand first-hand why reliable access is so important, and the formal consultation gives them an opportunity to make their voices heard.
“We’re not asking people to become experts in sediment modelling. We’re asking those who know and use Brighton Marina to explain their own experience and why maintaining safe, dependable access matters to them.
“At the same time, the technical evidence can be scrutinised through the proper regulatory process.”
Once the application is open to consultation, members of the public will be able to have their say at this link.
