Concern has been expressed this week over a bid to extract up to 300,000 tonnes of aggregate a year from beneath the sea off the Gower peninsular.

Llanelli Sand Dredging Ltd. has applied to the Crown Estate for a 15-year marine aggregates extraction licence for a 93 km2 area of the Bristol Channel approximately 10 miles west of Worms Head.

Licences are issued by the Crown Estates as owners of the sea-bed, but as part of the procedure, applicants are required to submit their application to the Welsh Assembly for a Government view on whether the licence should be granted.

Part of the procedure includes the preparation of an Environmental Statement and a Coastal Study Impact, which was submitted on September 23 and is presently out for consultation.

However, concern has been expressed that Tenby Town Council and Saundersfoot Community Council were not included in the consultation process, even though the western most point of the site - Licence Area 476, or the North Outer Bristol Channel (Nobel) Banks - lies just 12 miles off their coast.

"It seems strange that in their ongoing consultations, over 12 months, they sought the views of community councils in Pendine, Llansteffan and Laugharne, those on the Gower, and county councils including Pembrokeshire, Somerset and Devon, but omitted Tenby and Saundersfoot, two of the main tourism areas," commercial fisherman Don Callnon, of Saundersfoot, told the Observer this week.

When the omission was pointed out, Tenby Town Council were sent both the Environmental Statement and Coastal Impact Study, which they received on Monday, some five weeks into the 10-week consultation process, and the matter has been placed on the agenda to be discussed at next Tuesday's meeting.

"Unless you were on the official list of consultees, or saw the adverts in the Fishing News, the South Wales Echo or the Western Mail, then you would know nothing about the application," Mr. Callnon continued.

Mr. Callnon revealed that he had first learned of the licence bid some two-and-a-half weeks ago and those fishermen he had spoken to in Saundersfoot were against the request.

"I spend a lot of my time fishing around the Nobel Banks and I gain a great deal of livelihood from them," he explained.

The Coastal Impact Survey, by H. R. Wallingford, claims that the area can sustain the extraction of 300,000 tonnes of aggregate a year and that fishing stocks in the area will not be affected, but Mr. Callnon remains unconvinced.

"They say 300,000 tonnes a year, but over the 15 years that's 4.5 million tonnes," he claimed.

"They say that exclusion of fishing from the dredging area will be short-term and would be in a small area relative to the surrounding fishing areas, but what will the long term effect be?

"How will this affect breeding stocks in the area. This is a well-known breeding ground, particularly for whelks, and a well-known feeding ground for other species."

Of primary concern to Mr. Callnon, however, was the possible increase of coastal erosion.

Tenby town councillor and well-known local environmentalist, Trevor Hallett, agreed.

"Extraction of this much aggregate a year is likely to affect tidal pattern," he opined. "These banks presently act as a buffer zone, reducing the impact of wave action. Without them, what will be the impact on coastal areas?

"Environmental impact studies should be carried out over at least five years to gain a true picture of the area and I note that a lot of the consultees who have replied have expressed similar concerns.

"It concerns me that Tenby and Saundersfoot were left out of the consultation.

"Environmental Resources Management, who sent the information to Tenby Town Council on Monday, have apologised, saying that the list of consultees was furnished by the Assembly, but why include places like Pendine, Laugharne and Devon and not Tenby and Saundersfoot, which are closer to the Nobel Banks," he added.

Mr. Callnon said that Saundersfoot fishermen would be raising the matter at a meeting of the Joint Fishing Concerns of South Wales today (Friday) and urged people to comment on the application.

"I urge people who think they may be affected by this application to find out more details, and those consultees who have not yet responded, to make their observations known to the National Assembly," he said. "If you don't lodge objections, then it will be assumed that you have no objections."