Work to preserve 'treasured' wildlife site begins

Essential work to maintain a wildlife hotspot in West Sussex is due to begin.

The Environment Agency is refurbishing a pipe which plays a crucial role in maintaining water levels in Lancing's Widewater Lagoon.

Gill Purnell, chair of community group World of Widewater, told BBC Radio Sussex she was "ecstatic".

"We never thought we'd get funding to replace the pipe."

Purnell said last summer the lagoon almost dried out partly due to holes in a mitigation pipe, which allows seawater to enter the lagoon at high tide.

"It was very bad," she said, adding that fish were dead and gasping in the shallow water.

"It was very smelly".

Purnell added that the low water levels affected birdlife.

But she said wildlife had come back after the lagoon had filled up again.

The Environment Agency will replace the mitigation pipe and its timber frame, with work due to begin on Monday and expected to last until the end of March.

"Widewater Lagoon is a treasured local wildlife site, home to a rich variety of species that depend on carefully balanced water levels to thrive," said Andy Manville of the Environment Agency.

"This essential work will ensure the lagoon continues to flourish as a haven for wildlife and a much-loved destination for visitors for years to come."

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