Madam,

After reading your article Environmental impact makes breakwater unviable, the wisdom, even the sanity, of Ceredigion County Council must be queried if they have really put the welfare of a sea worm, believed by some to live off the entrance to Aberaeron harbour, as a higher priority than the local flooding and erosion issues which have been of concern for the last 200 years or so.

It seems that for the decision-makers on the council, the status of this worm ranks alongside issues for farming, the Welsh language and other rural concerns.

In Aberaeron, this recently discovered worm seems to have more rights than residents in the matter of protection from the elements.

In 2007, the council employed consultants to investigate various options to improve Aberaeron’s sea defences.

This may have been a genuine attempt by the council to introduce transparency into this emotive issue and the accompanying public meetings were well attended. However, all the proposals presented by the consultants were educated opinions rather than proven solutions.

The better options never got beyond the drawing board because of the presence of this hitherto unknown worm living in the approaches to the harbour entrance.

The proposal eventually adopted cost close to £6m and involved embedding 80,000 tonnes of granite blocks in cement along the northern shore. It was suggested by some critics that the adopted proposal was, at best, a form of King Canute’s defence set in concrete.

The new defences are now in place and, whilst they may reduce local coastal erosion for a while, they do nothing to stop waves overtopping and flooding the lower reaches of Aberaeron. The same amount of money spent on a breakwater would certainly have reduced the impact of wave damage in the harbour and adjacent shore lines.

The most surprising outcome of this consultative process, however, must be the impact the worm has had on the decision-making process in the council’s chambers. Surely, no creature has achieved such momentous impact as Aberaeron’s lowly worm has done in deciding the preferred option for our sea defences.

I earnestly hope the council will look to the sea and face up to marine issues soon. Storms and coastal erosion are not going to disappear and, with global warming, there will be rising sea levels. Matters are only going to worsen. Now is the time to do something positive and not leave it to future generations.

Today, the harbour area is our major asset, drawing thousands of visitors each year. With a breakwater, Aberaeron will also provide a much-needed safe haven in Cardigan Bay and possibly inject a stimulus to our declining fishing industry.

The possibility of harnessing tidal power should also be considered. But please oh please, do not use this poor worm as the basis of your objections to a breakwater project.

Yours etc,

Capt Huw Lewis, Bro Allt y Graig, Aberaeron.