A NEW plan has been unveiled to allow boats access to Christchurch Harbour during work to replenish beaches.

Despite a scheme already getting approval to pump sand from Mudeford Sandbank via a submerged pipeline to Gundimore and Avon Beach, Christchurch council have decided to go back to the drawing board.

Concerns were raised by the Christchurch Harbour Association and Mudeford and District Fisherman’s Association, during the original proposal, over the impact on navigation.

In their comments, the CHA said the first proposals would have an adverse impact on the ‘navigable channel’, which extends from the end of Mudeford Quay to The Needles.

“The removal of the top of the sand spit will cause further erosion and potential danger for navigation”, they said.

And the Mudeford and District Fisherman’s Association say they were concerned that the extraction of sediment from the sand spit “will lead to a loss of depth and definition of the channel and increase the impacts of wave action.”

They also believed the work would have had ‘implications’ for navigation.

Now, officers agree that the original proposal may have led to difficulties for vessels getting in and out of Christchurch harbour at low tide.

A new proposal would see a channel being cut through the western end of the sandbar, which would be buoyed to mark its location.

This would allow vessels access to the harbour without any danger of snagging the pipeline, the council say.

Sand and shingle would be pumped from a dredger using a submersible pump alongside the sand bar via a floating pipeline to temporary lagoons on the beach, the plans reveal.

Lindsay Cass, head of property and engineering at Christchurch council, said: "The shape of the ebb-tide delta has changed recently, which is another reason for us looking at a different way of working.

"Previously it was about 400 metres long and 100 metres wide. It is now about 600 metres long but only 30 metres wide.

"The narrower and longer sand bar would make it difficult for the excavators originally proposed to work there safely."

He said the new proposed location would also mean fewer vehicle movements needed to distribute the sand and shingle along the coastline.

"The new method of working would also be carried out at more convenient times, as the previous method meant we could only excavate material from the sandbar for an hour or two either side of low tide, which could have meant some night-time working", Mr Cass added.

He said the council would be talking to fisherman and the RNLI about the plans.