Environment

The current port proposals, which no longer include Dibden Bay, threaten a number of locally, nationally and internationally designated sites, including:

• Sites of Special Scientific Interest (e.g. Bathside Bay)
• Ramsar designated areas
• Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (e.g. Suffolk Coasts and Heaths across the River Stour from bathside Bay)
• Special Protection Areas (e.g. Thames Estuary and Marshes)

Wildlife

Birds are most notably affected by port developments, but a wide range of creatures from seals to dolphins, seaweeds to shellfish, all depend upon the varied natural habitats that coastal areas provide for food, breeding grounds and shelter.

They also act as a nursery for many sea animals which form a vital part of the marine ecosystems of estuaries, bays, sand banks and corals.

A vital natural resource

With more than 160 estuaries, the UK is more important than any other European country for wading birds and wildfowl:

• Nearly two million waders and almost a million wildfowl descend on these muddy and sandy areas to shelter each winter
• Up to five million pairs of seabirds breed on UK sea cliffs and ledges each year

Consequently, much of the UK coastline is designated under European and national wildlife protection law.

The threat to estuaries

Despite our responsibility to protect our coastal areas estuaries are facing a continuous loss of habitat - the Suffolk Stour has lost almost half of its salt marsh since 1973.

An increasing loss of habitat means more and more birds have to squeeze into less and less space. For some species, estuaries are already full and with no where else to go, these birds are doomed to starve.

Landscape

Large modern port developments have negative impacts on the landscape of surrounding areas as well:

• Important archaeological sites can be damaged or lost
• The rural landscape is industrialised
• Tranquility is lost
• More land is lost as landside transport infrastructure is built

Historically, UK estuaries have been used as a cheap source of land for both agriculture and development.

Ports have contributed to this destruction. In the last ten years, new facilities built in the Medway, Stour/Orwell, Humber and Dee estuaries, have destroyed important wildlife habitats.

Government policy >

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