WHEN an estimated 2 ft of silt and sediment vanished into the estuary in 2012, fishermen and environmentalists started to worry.

The perceived loss of Southend’s foreshore – the area of the shoreline between the high and low water marks – is now the focus of a major study trying to find out if it is disappearing and what might be causing it.

The foreshore is home to a huge amount of wildlife and supports the longest pleasure pier in the world.

Tory councillor for St Laurence, Mark Flewitt, chairman of the committee leading the investigation, wants to get to the bottom of the issue.

Mr Flewitt said: “We will be open to all evidence and approaching expert bodies to help in the investigation.

“This is one of those projects where the cabinet does not expect a clear cut answer though. We actually might get more questions coming from it.

“We as councillors are not judges and anyone with evidence, be it old photos or documents, will be welcomed.

“It is about looking at the changes, recording them for future information and perhaps reaching a conclusion.

“We are here to make recommendations to the council, but we have not really got the money to act on recommendations – we would have to lobby the Government and the Environment Agency for grants. That does not mean we should not do it though.”

The lost bed is one of the richest habitats on the planet and has previously been compared to the rainforest in terms of the amount of wildlife it supports.

The diminishing mudflats are a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a thriving habitat for insects, cockles and wading birds.

And they also form a vital link in the food chain, supporting fish such as Dover sole – which are a valuable catch for the south Essex fishing industry.

Peter Wexham, a retired fisherman and Lib Dem councillor for Leigh, proposed a review of the foreshore erosion last summer and has been critical of the delay in it starting.

He now wants answers and hopes the findings of the review, which are hoped to be known by spring, will be clearer than those in an Environment Agency report published in 2013.

He said: “Over time, we have been told everything is to blame for the erosion, global warming, too much fresh water, too much water coming out of the drains and natural cycles.

“All my views are based on my life working and living on or around the river, but, hopefully ,this review will get the right scientists involved.

“Part of the responsibility of the SSSI is to maintain the biodiversity of the area.

“Habitats are being washed away and we may not be able to get them back, but we need to know if we can stop it or what to do next and how to change things.”

Residents can submit evidence online at southend.gov.uk/ foreshoresurvey, by email to foreshorestudy@southend.gov.uk or in writing to the democratic services department at the council offices.

Dredging, global warming or natural change?

I dredging the prime suspect?

In 2012, the Environment Agency and Southend Council launched a joint investigation into finding out what was happening to the foreshore.

The investigation was conducted with the help of DP World, the port operator creating the London Gateway superport in Tilbury.

When the results were published in 2013, they absolved DP World of any blame, despite the Dubai-based company dredging a four-metre deep trench along the length of the Thames to accommodate the world’s largest container ships.

Not everyone was convinced though.

Paul Gilson, co-chairman of the Leigh and Southend Fishermen’s Association maintains the dramatic erosion of the foreshore is down to the dredging.

He said: “Myself and Lib Dem councillor Peter Wexham have looked back at images from as early as the 16th century and the fields of pebbles east of the pier were never there previously – they are new.

“The foreshore has disappeared rapidly over recent years, there is no doubt about that in my mind.

“You will always get long shore drift and beach movement, but the foreshore had been stable for 150 years or more.

“Yet we hear from people working along the foreshore and at Canvey Point, who have worked there for nearly 45 years, that the recent changes are unbelievable.

“There were pathways, or causeways, built out into the estuary for people to load and unload boats, which were covered in mud and silt.

“They are now becoming visible again and sticking up from the sea bed, just showing how much silt has been washed away.”

Could it be down to global warming?

The heating of the planet has been blamed for the extremes in weather the UK has seen in the past few years.

Southend has increasingly seen record storm surges, galeforce winds and monsoon-like downpours batter the seafront, damaging sea walls, increasing surface water run-off into the sea and potentially washing away the foreshore with it.

Or is it just a natural change?

In late 2012, the Environment Agency reported the rapidlyeroding mud may actually be returning to the town’s foreshore.

The Government agency suggested the significant erosion of mud and silt may have been the result of periodic change and that it was returning in many areas.

Fishermen Paul Gilson and councillor Martin Terry disagreed though, and challenged the agency on where they got their evidence from, but it refused to reveal its sources.