BRITAIN'S first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty could be destroyed by sand dredging. The Gower coast, near Swansea, got its protected status 49 years ago. But yesterday Tory AM Alun Cairns said dredging could blight the area which has 27 sites of special scientific interest. More than one million tonnes of sand were dredged in the past 40 years. Mr Cairns said that equated to an area the size of a football field 100 metres deep. "There is little wonder then that the potential loss of sand is so alarming," he said. "If sand dredging continues this very beautiful and heavily protected area could be destroyed for ever." A public inquiry will hear an application to dredge Helwick Bank, 2.5km off Worms Head on Gower. "At long last the campaign by the thousands of people in Gower has had some impact," Mr Cairns said.. | 
