ONE of Hampshire's biggest yachting centres is in danger of becoming a silted-up backwater within the next ten years.

Lymington Harbour Commissioners warned that there is a real danger of a sandbar building up across the mouth of the Lymington River, which is a key route for the Isle of Wight ferries and for the yachting and fishing communities.

They decided unanimously to set up a committee to try to talk to people and organisations in a bid to get something done before it's too late.

The Commissioners' annual report revealed that the saltmarshes alongside the river entrance "disappear in chunks" during bad weather, but nothing can be done about it because environmental restrictions prevent the building of protective barriers.

Moorings in the river estuary are already at risk, the report said, and it added: "With hard engineering effectively ruled out in a special area of conservation, the opportunities to maintain the present number of moorings are severely limited."

But there were warnings from chief executive Colin Wise and harbourmaster Alan Coster that the whole shape of the harbour was under threat.

"What is making it urgent for us is that the harbour is disappearing," said Mr Wise, adding that the Commissioners should act as the catalyst which gets other authorities to take action.

Mr Coster explained that with tidal waters not coming across the river from Crooked Lake to the west and through Pylewell Lake to the east, a sandbar could build up across the river entrance.

"Unless something is done, the river will block off. There's no question about that. It's something we are looking at within ten years," he said.

Amid reminders of the importance of the harbour to the whole economy of Lymington, the Com-missioners issued a statement confirming that they had "recognised the gravity of the threat to the Lymington Harbour posed by the rapidly-receding saltmarshes which have sheltered the harbour and town from the prevailing wave action throughout the town's history.

They added that the newly-formed action sub-committee would "liaise with relevant statutory authorities, landlords and other stakeholders in the harbour and town with a view to implementing a workable plan within the nine-years available."