Campaigners are urging the public to back their petition against the dumping of thousands of tonnes of dredged waste off the Westcountry beauty spot of Whitsand Bay.

The Internet petition has been created at www.stopdumping.co.uk to step up the pressure on the Environment Minister, Elliot Morley, to halt the disastrous pollution of the bay by silt and industrial materials.

In January the bay, which is home to the artificial diving reef the Scylla, was named by Holiday Which? as having one of the top three beaches in Cornwall.

But campaigners fear it could be despoiled unless the dumping is halted, with severe knock-on effects on the tourist economy.

The dire state of the waters was revealed by the WMN after diver Dave Peake produced video and photographic evidence of suffocating plant-life, sick and diseased shellfish and the build-up of dense silt and bacteria on the seabed.

Mr Peake has described the seabed as "looking as if it has leprosy".

Campaigners blame commercial dredging of the River Tamar as well as the Ministry of Defence at Devonport, which has been licensed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to deposit more than 200,000 tonnes of material at the site this year.

They say that the dump site off Rame Head has reach saturation point and the waste is churning up in the bay as if around a "giant washing machine". And they point to the massive dumping of around 500,000 tonnes of waste during the MoD's project for RAFT (Remote Ammunitioning Facility Tamar) for dramatically worsening the situation.

That scheme was abandoned in May 2002 at a cost of £25 million when it was found to longer be necessary. Last night Mr Peake said he was buoyed by the progress of the campaign.

He said: "The public are getting behind it. I showed my video at a public meeting on Monday and people were appalled. They were amazed that there was rubbish and pollution in six metres of water at low tide."

He said that he had seen more industrial waste in the waters as recently as last Sunday, and he believed that these were industrial materials that could only have come from the bed of the River Tamar.

"There were alloy and rubber offcuts, rags, car tyres. The water was hazy and I don't see why it should be like that at this time of year.

"That bay has got something in it - the water is becoming a soup. I think the authorities have a lot to answer for over this," he said.

The online petition is launched alongside a website, www.whitsandbay.org, which has details of Mr Peake's evidence.

He is submitting new samples from the water for testing by a leading marine scientist. Defra scientists are also expected to produce their own report next month on the impact of deposited waste in the bay.

The campaign to protect the bay has attracted cross-party political support amid growing public anger at what they see as a lack of consultation.

The Lib-Dem MP for South East Cornwall, Colin Breed, has accused the MoD of "riding roughshod" over the public and has taken up the matter in the European Parliament to see if it can intervene.

He is also seeking the release of papers about the dumping under the new Freedom of Information Act.

The Conservative Party spokesman for South East Cornwall, Ashley Gray, is also calling for the dumping to end. He has sent a petition to every home in the constituency.

He said last night: "All comment will be passed on to Defra as the pressure grows on the Government to act and end the dumping licence.

"It is time to safeguard our local marine environment and allow the bay to regenerate."

Rame councillor Sheryll Murray has asked Caradon District Council to agree to show councillors Mr Peake's video evidence.

A spokesman for the MoD said: "It's for Defra to look at this issue at this stage as they are the body that issued the licence."

A Defra spokesman said: "We look forward to hearing the receiving the petition from the people of South East Cornwall. We will be interested to hear their views and will respond in due course."
top of page