A COASTAL science expert has hit out at plans to dredge Dibden Bay and dump the mud on part of the Hythe foreshore.

Professor John Pethick said the controversial scheme would alter the character of environmentally-sensitive sites between Hythe and an area known as Cadland.

He has studied the project for English Nature, one of the main objectors to the plan to build a huge container terminal at Dibden Bay.

Prof Pethick criticised the planned dredging and dumping in a report presented to the public inquiry into the proposed port by colleague Richard Leafe.

Part of Prof Pethick's evidence dealt with proposals to "recharge" the mudflats between Hythe and Cadland using material taken from Dibden Bay.

He said the work would result in the deterioration of ecologically-important sites, including a special area of conservation.

"The effect of the recharge will be to change the elevation of the mudflat profile and therefore alter its structure and function," added Prof Pethick.

"Dredging of the estuary channel will increase sub-tidal deposition, leading to increased maintenance dredging and decreased inter-tidal deposition.

"This, in turn, will lead to increases in the long-term erosion rates of the designated inter-tidal areas of the estuary.

"Predictions of the total area of inter-tidal loss over a 50-year period can range from a minimum of 19 hectares to a maximum of 80 hectares.

"Such a range in prediction demonstrates an unacceptable level of uncertainty."

Prof Pethick's evidence also described other proposals in the Dibden Bay area, including plans to reclaim an inter-tidal area near the Royal Pier.

He said: "The impact of the Royal Pier scheme and other developments in Southampton Water, acting in combination with the Dibden proposal, will exacerbate the deterioration of the estuary."

Summing up, Prof Pethick claimed that the Dibden Bay scheme constituted a "major threat" to the geomorphological and ecological integrity of the area.