Meeting will explain plan for artificial reef

10:09am Thursday 25th October 2007

With reference to Geoff King's letter about the proposed plan to sink an ex-naval vessel in Seaford Bay to create an artificial reef (The Argus, October 22), a presentation and meeting is being held for the public on Friday, November 2, at Seaford Baptist church, Belgrave Road, Seaford starting at 6.30pm to explain the plans to any interested parties.

Members of Seeda, Marine South East, Tourism South East and local council members will be attending and will answer any queries from the public.

There has been huge support for the scheme from local businesses in Seaford and Newhaven as they can appreciate the benefits to their businesses, even if Mr King cannot.

In response to Mr King's claim that the scheme would put unnecessary pressure on the emergency teams, for the record, the RNLI tell me that of all the call-outs they had last year, 95.5 per cent were for boats and small crafts, while only 4.5 per cent were for divers. Hardly the chaos which Mr King refers to.

In any case, provision can be made for funding of rescue services so as not to cause any additional burden.

As to the environmental benefits these will be discussed at the meeting.

Mr King's assumption that I will benefit as a hotel owner is incorrect as I am closing my business this year. I, like many others, have decided that it is no longer viable to run a business in Seaford due to the decline of tourists to our town.

I will not benefit from offering cheap diving packages as Mr King states, but I hope that the remaining accommodation providers do, and I hope the restaurants and shops in our town benefit as well.

Please come to the meeting Mr King and see what it is really all about.

• Anthony Fowler, Tudor Manor, Seaford