Chichester Harbour Trust 'cautiously optimistic' after years of campaigning to save Chichester Harbour

Chichester Harbour is one of the most environmentally important environments on the planet and as work to project it continues, major stakeholders have gathered at a breakthrough summit to agree a way forward that could make a real difference to the future of the threatened harbour.

John Nelson, chair of Chichester Harbour Trust, said: "We had a very good cast of characters, all the key people and heads of national agencies. It was an extremely good, collaborative meeting.

"We had asked everyone in advance to set up a list of actions to improve and protect the harbour in the short, medium and long term, and that was discussed in detail.

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"I feel there is a real prospect of a team effort to try to rescue Chichester Harbour. For the first time, I feel more optimistic. We agreed a comprehensive list of actions, both in the immediate and medium term, and we will be monitoring the progress in six months with a follow-up meeting in December.

"A lot of the actions are inevitably going to take a long time but at last we have got going. The one thing that we haven't really cracked yet is the overdevelopment around the harbour and the plans for that, which is a problem. What is planned is going to destroy the harbour."

The agreed actions that are now planned are confidential but Mr Nelson was able to say key decisions had been made to improve water quality, including Southern Water reducing storm overflows that impact on the harbour by 2025, improving and expanding water treatment, and improving data to make it more reliable.

He added: "One of the good things is the Environment Agency now doing regular farm visits and working with farmers using a nutrient tool, which is something that has already worked in Poole."

Work will be done to improve and expand habitat restoration, and the trust will continue to champion the exceptional circumstances in terms of development.

Mr Nelson said: "We have a comprehensive list of actions, which are going to be monitored, and some of the actions have been started already. It is going to take a long time, but it is being taken seriously. What it is about now is execution. It all depends on the actions and the determination of the people to get things done."

Annually, the water quality in Chichester Harbour has continued to deteriorate. In the past few months, it has improved due to the time of year but the trust is expecting more rain in the autumn and that is going to make it worse.

There has also been a green weed blanket caused by nitrates, which gummed up the harbour during May and June.