Most local people will know of the recent discharge into the sea by Southern Water (SW) of what are known as bio-beads. These small plastic pellets are used in wastewater treatment, and were released from Southern Water’s plant in Eastbourne, a spillage that should never have happened. As a consequence this discharge caused a very serious pollution impact to the South East region beaches. Local and national news concentrated their reporting of this mainly on Camber’s beach, being the most famous and popular for its sand and size.
It was soon noticed by residents, and particularly Camber business owners, that visitor numbers were falling dramatically by late November into early December. The same was being reported by the owners of rented accommodation when bookings were tailing off from the normal pre-Christmas numbers. This situation was not helped by Rother District Council’s, Southern Water’s and the Environment Agency’s social media warnings and notices of a pollution alert. It was clear people were choosing to stay away from Camber. These now need to be taken down immediately as the situation has changed with the clean-up of the beach.
The downturn in numbers and trade led to an urgent meeting being called for businesses- pubs, restaurants, cafes, shops and others – to discuss the situation. On 20 December the meeting, organised by Love Local, Use Local: Promoting Camber Sands Businesses, discussed the overall situation and a number of businesses reported severe drops in takings and bookings clearly caused by the publicity and by visitors’ concerns for their own and pets’ safety and about the health risks.
Parkdene Resort has also reported lost bookings for caravan rentals and that their users usually contribute a significant part of local businesses’ takings. Whereas the closure of Pontins, and even the exorbitant rise in car park charges imposed by Rother District Council (RDC), had been weathered in past years, the pollution scare has impacted to such an extent that some businesses have expressed that they do not see themselves surviving until the spring. At the meeting, other businesses confirmed their own deep concern for present and future trade.
Those attending the December meeting were conscious of the wider implications for others with the reduction in trade locally such as the cleaning and maintenance workers who deal with holiday rentals and lettings; café and restaurant kitchen and serving staff; taxi firms; small shops and supermarkets and so it goes on.
The local MP Helena Dollimore has been relentless in her criticism of Southern Water and their need to take responsibility for what they called an “accident”, and with her and others’ pressure they have, somewhat belatedly, accepted responsibility for their actions and have increased their own activity to clear the beads. At the outset of the discovery, it was left to local volunteers and RDC staff to do the clean-up. Southern Water have now contracted a specialist team from Nurdle, a UK non-profit organisation that collects microplastics from the coastline. They have been assisting in the clean-up since the day the pollution first landed at Camber using a special vacuum and sifting machine. Southern Water are now building three more of them, the first trialled on Sunday 4 December which is a replica of the original used but with more power so they move faster along the beach. These will be ready in the future for any other spills that come ashore.
So it’s looking good for Camber as the bio-beads are being rapidly removed and it is safe to return to the beach. This news needs to get out speedily and to be wide spread. But businesses are left with the issues of their current dilemma and the long-term impact of the adverse publicity of recent months which could remain in peoples’ minds – bad news travelling faster than good news.
So all businesses agreed at their first meeting to actively attempt to engage in positive publicity – to reassure the public that the beach clean operation is ongoing and working well, with over 50% or more of the beads having already been cleared and informing the public that this figure is increasing daily, in order to reverse the poor picture that has been conveyed. They are requesting that RDC, the Environment Agency and Southern Water need to be more active in promoting the positive aspects of Camber to redress past events which has had a negative effect on Camber’s economy and consequently a knock-on effect for the region.
Consequently, a number of important decisions were made at the meeting to “turn things around” and look for financial compensation from Southern Water for the losses already experienced over the last few months in order allow businesses to continue. Southern Water recently paid to Hastings and St Leonards £450,000 from a ‘Goodwill Fund’ for businesses, local events, charities and community groups and other activities after the flooding and water outages of last year. Camber businesses are not asking for such an amount but for recognition that Camber needs assistance too.
Helena Dollimore MP is being asked to attend a village meeting to report back on her progress with Southern Water and listen to Camber people. She has already written to Southern Water asking for compensation but would be able to take the situation to the government and seek its help for Camber businesses to get some recompense from Southern Water.
Starting a possible legal class action is also being considered, recognising that this course might take years to achieve, as Southern Water needs to know Camber businesses are prepared to take this route if necessary.
Love Local, Use Local: Promoting Camber Sands Businesses’ next meeting is on Saturday 17 January at 1.00 pm at the Camber Castle. Any business or service provider are invited to attend.
Image Credits: Kt bruce , John Bradford .