Sir, Once a paradise for children to play happily on the golden sand building their glorious sand-castle empires. Where parents and grannies languished in the sun, in green canvas deckchairs watching over their offspring and marvelling at their creations. Where children could race safely to the shore in bare feet and splash in the waves of the cool sea without any hurt on those infant feet.

Now no more. A mile of golden sand gone, replaced by stones of every shape and size where children now pick their way gingerly to the shore. The young ones crying in pain as sharp stones cut the delicate skin and they seek the comfort of their mothers instead of the cool salty sea.

Who is accountable for this debacle? Who made the decision to remove the groynes from the Giltar area that prevented the golden sands from being swept away by the dangerous cross currents that otherwise would sweep away the beach? Which local authority is concealing the truth and offering incorrect platitudes that everything will be back to normal after the winter gales? No, they have been wrong on every rare occasion that they have deemed to comment.

Before the removal of the groynes there was a substantial shingle bank between what was known locally as the BIG BUNKER half-way along the beach and extending to Giltar. This protected the sand dunes from being eroded. Now it too has disappeared, and the shingle is spread over the whole beach by the cross currents. The sand dunes are being systematically washed away despite the waste of money the Pembrokeshire County Council has spent on their pathetic attempts to reconstitute them. In some places the dunes are now not much more than seven feet high. Before too many years go by, they will also be washed away.

Isn’t it time that the council fessed up to their mistake and took the correct remedial action by installing new breakwaters to divert the cross current and prevent further damage and give the beach a chance of returning to its former glory.

Cyril James Morris,

Saundersfoot