An engineer who worked on the Goodwin Sands has rejected claims that dredging them will unearth the remains of wartime pilots.

John Gerrard says the dredging would be too shallow to reach the war graves.

Mr Gerrard, a former Dover Harbour Board engineer, had been involved in extracting sand the area in the 1980s.

He says the 1939-45 sand strata is “considerably lower” than the proposed dredging level planned by the Port of Dover for Western dock redevelopment.

The campaign group Goodwin Sands SOS (Save Our Sands) fears the work in the area would disturb war graves there and has waged strenuous efforts to block the dredging.

Mr Gerrard said: “In the unlikely event of finding any sensitive remains proper procedures would be adopted to protect them.”

He points out that from his experience the volume of sand moving around the Goodwins during a storm is greater than any minor localised impact from dredging.

The work involves taking 2.5 million cubic metres of sand for the harbour board’s redevelopment, the Dover Western Docks Revival. But it would still leave more than 99.7% of the sands untouched.

Mr Gerrard added: “In recent years the sand reserves have increased to such an extent that the shipping danger marker has been moved nearly a mile further to the south east.”

Mr Gerrard, also a member of the Dover Society civic group, is backing the port authority’s bid to be granted a government licence to dredge.

But GSSOS co-ordinator Joanna Thomson said: “Where is Mr Gerrard’s evidence to support his claim that military air crash sites and other heritage assets will not be in the layer of sand to be dredged?

“What evidence does he have to say that it is unlikely to find any sensitive remains when Historic England has confirmed that the potential for such discoveries is high?”

Ms Thomson argues that researchers have found that the Goodwins are a highly dynamic sandbank with the sand moving regularly anti-clockwise.

She said: “This is the reason why the shipping markers are often relocated, not because the sand reserves are replenishing themselves as claimed by Mr Gerrard.

“Scientists believe that the Goodwins are a closed system with little sand moving in or out so there is therefore little or no replenishment.”