Photo by Ray Harrington
Brighton Marina’s operator has proposed moving its dredging disposal site to Newhaven from next spring, after losing a legal battle over dumping sediment in a protected marine reserve. Premier Marinas says it intends to apply for a licence to dispose of sand and silt at the site used by Newhaven Harbour, rather than continuing to use the disposal ground off Rottingdean that has been the subject of a long-running dispute with Sussex Wildlife Trust.
A licence quashed over unassessed impacts
The Rottingdean site sits within the Beachy Head West Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ), an area a Natural England report says contains some of the best examples of chalk habitat in the South East, supporting specialised communities of animals, seaweeds and the rare short-snouted seahorse. The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) had granted Premier Marinas a ten-year licence in May 2025 to dispose of dredged sediment there, but Sussex Wildlife Trust brought a judicial review challenging the decision.
The charity’s director of conservation, Henri Brocklebank, said at the time the licence would have meant “33,000 shipping containers worth of spoil” being disposed of over ten years, adding: “If that was on the South Downs everyone would lose it, but it’s at sea. It’s a really special, important, internationally rare habitat.” The MMO conceded on one of the Trust’s grounds of challenge, and the licence was quashed on 4 November 2025, with the regulator accepting it had not properly assessed whether the disposal plans avoided, minimised or mitigated harm to the protected site.
A stopgap while a longer-term answer is sought
Rather than abandoning Rottingdean, Premier Marinas submitted a fresh application in March 2026 for an interim one-year licence to keep using the same disposal ground while it worked out a permanent solution. Sussex Wildlife Trust objected to that application too, stating it remains “fundamentally opposed to the continued disposal of dredged material in a protected area” and wants to see the activity removed from the MCZ altogether. That interim application, filed under reference MLA/2026/00065, is still under consideration by the MMO.
Newhaven had already been flagged as a possible way out of the impasse. Sussex Bylines reported that, unlike the Rottingdean site, both Newhaven and Shoreham-by-Sea sit outside any protected area designation, though Shoreham was considered less workable because eastward longshore drift there would carry dumped sediment straight back towards the marina. Sussex Wildlife Trust itself raised Newhaven as a viable alternative during the original Rottingdean consultation.
Why the marina says it has few other options
Premier Marinas argues that dredged material cannot be disposed of “up-stream” to the west of the marina, as this risks increasing natural sedimentation within it, leaving Newhaven as its preferred remaining option. Chief operating officer John Cervenka said: “Maintaining safe navigational access to Brighton Marina is not optional. It is a legal requirement and fundamental to the operation of the marina and to the berth holders, businesses and other users who rely on it.”
He added that the marina underpins almost 150 businesses, including commercial fishing, dive charters, sail training and marine-tour operators, along with bars, restaurants and leisure companies, which Premier Marinas estimates employ 1,200 people and contribute £130 million a year to the local economy. “We’re now doing the detailed assessments needed to understand properly what using that site would mean, both environmentally and operationally for our dredging delivery partners, before we submit a licence application,” Cervenka said, adding that the company wants those who rely on the marina “in other ways” to be able to have their say once a formal consultation opens.
Political and public reaction
The dispute has already drawn in local politicians. During the row over the interim Rottingdean licence, Chris Ward, Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, said local residents strongly opposed continued dumping in the MCZ: “It simply isn’t appropriate to dump this waste in a site so close to our coastline.” He said he would keep pushing with residents and environmental groups for a “better solution” – the kind of outcome Premier Marinas is now framing its Newhaven proposal as delivering.