Creative Review, 10th August 2016

Richard Evans’ Goodwin Sands campaign highlights Dover dredging fears

The proposed dredging has become a hot local issue in Kent. As The Guardian reported in January, Dover Harbour Board is considering dredging for sand and gravel from an area around six miles out from Deal, to expand cargo facilities and build a marina at Dover port.

However, groups including the Kent Wildlife Trust, Marine Conservation Society and British Divers Marine Life Rescue have all raised concerns that the work might damage habitats and endanger marine life. The area is also home to a war grave.

Creative Richard Evans, who lives in Deal, had been following the issue via the Goodwin Sands SOS protest group on Facebook. “When they started to get more organised and called for people to help out I volunteered,” he says.

Evans created a campaign of press ads which highlight some of the alleged dangers of the proposed dredging, including disturbing the wreck of a U-Boat and damaging the breeding grounds of grey seals.

The ads all ran in the July 7 issue of the East Kent Mercury, which serves the Goodwin Sands area. “The ads countered a DPS Dover Harbour Board had been running, which I was pretty pleased to see run again in the same issue,” Evans says.