Who are we?

Troubled Waters (PDF† - 380K)

PortsWatch is a new campaigning network focussing on seaport development. It includes:

• Campaign to Protect Rural England, East of England (CPRE)
• Friends of the Earth
• Marine Conservation Society (MCS)
• Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
• Transport 2000 (T2000)
• Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS)
• Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT), and the
• Wildlife Trusts.

Bathside Bay (yellow line
encloses development area)

Dibden Bay

Why have we been formed?

Despite their major economic, transport and environmental effects, the provision of port capacity in the UK is wholly market driven. There is no long-term strategic planning to assess and/or meet demand and no framework to determine how to best manage their impact.

The network has been formed to campaign against:

• Needless destruction of sensitive coastal areas,
• Overburdening of local transport links, and
• Negative impacts upon communities

caused by the major deep sea container port developments now being proposed:

• Dibden Bay, Hampshire - New superport
• London Gateway (Shell Haven), Essex - New superport
• Bathside Bay, Harwich, Essex - New superport
• Felixstowe South, Suffolk - Expansion/reconfiguration

Full text of joint statement (PDF† - 195K)

Felixstowe South

What are we doing?

We are campaigning for a moratorium on the current applications until there is a national spatial strategy and the necessary methodology developed to determine the best location for deep sea container ports with full regard to the environment, transport links and local communities.

London Gateway (Shell Haven)

How you can help

You can write to your MP and/or the Secretary of State for Transport (Alistair Darling, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA) expressing your concern and asking for a moratorium on the current applications.

For further information please contact us:
info@portswatch.org

Watch this space for further actions.

News >

Images © Hutchison Ports (UK) Ltd, ABP, Hutchison Ports (UK) Ltd, RSPB

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© 2004, Portswatch, info@portswatch.org.uk