Silt could be dredged from Leigh Creek (From Echo)

Silt could be dredged from Leigh Creek

1:30pm Wednesday 3rd March 2010 in

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FISHERMEN could get better access to the Thames Estuary if a £105,000 study gives the go-ahead for the dredging of Leigh Creek.

The creek is becoming increasingly silted up, which is affecting water levels and limiting access for fishing boats and other craft.

Now Southend Council is to appoint a company to carry out a study to see if a dredging operation to remove sediment from the creekbed would be possible.

Andrew Lewis, the council’s corporate director of enterprise, tourism and the environment, said: “The study will help us assess the scope and estimated costs of future investigations required and works which would be required to achieve the project objectives.”

As well as helping the Leigh fishing fleet another potential benefit of the work may include creation of a new saltmarsh, an important wildlife habitat which could also function as a flood defence.

Peter Wexham, Southend Lib Dem councillor for Leigh ward, said the study was important to help keep Leigh alive as a fishing town.

He said: “The problem has been that the creek has been getting smaller, but the boats are getting larger.

“We need to put the base of the creek back on the north side, where the activity is, and leave the silting on the south side for the nature.

“It can be done, but what they have to work out is if it can be done in a sustainable way and not affect the wildlife, because everything you do has an effect somewhere else.”

Leigh town councillor Peter Dolby also welcomed the study, and said if it was possible to reinstate the original water flow by dredging the creek, it would create higher and longer-lasting water on both tides for the fishing fleet to use. He added: “I’m just pleased money is on the table to have this study done.”