Madam,

Unfortunately the report in respect of the Borth flood defences (Cambrian News, last week) was inaccurate on certain points, the main ones being the violent seas on 8 February did not breach the sea defences and the scheme cost £18m not £39m as stated. I note your report quotes James Davies as a source of information. The criticism of Ceredigion County Council is totally unfair and I don’t accept the comments about cement forming on the beach, where a temporary causeway was built to enable the construction of the offshore reefs. Further-more James attends all Borth council meetings and I have reported on a number of occasions that Ceredigion Council will cease to provide sandbags. Without the new sea defences the village of Borth would have taken a real hammering. One has only to compare the photo of the Ab-erystwyth promenade on the front page of the Cambrian News Aberystwyth edition last week with the sea water on part of the Borth High Street as shown in the photo. There was no report of Aberystwyth promenade defence being breached, the damage was caused by a conflation of high tides and storm winds driving on to the coast resulting in overtopping of the promenade wall and that was the situation in Borth, which is quite a different situation to a breach of the defences. When you have high storm sea conditions one would expect to have some water flowing through the gaps between the houses onto the road, because with the volume of water overtopping at the rear of the properties some will inevitably flow out through the gaps, which is why storm boards are placed in the public access alleyways to the beach. The Borth coastal defence scheme was completed in two phases. I am pleased to say that the construction of Phase 2 has protected the lower areas of Borth and there were no incidents of flooding during the 8 February storm conditions.With others, I have worked extremely hard over a number of years to ensure a new coastal defence system was built in Borth and in my view the new scheme has proved its worth in minimising damage to the com-munity of Borth. The £18m scheme was fully funded with Welsh Government and European monies whereas, under new funding arrangements for coastal defence schemes, local authorities have to contribute 25 per cent towards any scheme. Ceredigion County Council in the present financial climate could not afford £4.5m towards a £18m Borth scheme. The community has good reason to be thankful for our good fortune.

Yours etc

Cllr Ray Quant

Ceredigion County Council.