The owner of the Selsey caravan park stricken by floods after last week's storms has said the damage will cost millions of pounds to fix and blames the Environment Agency for what happened.

John Bunn was on the frontline when his West Sands park was hit by waves which broke through sea defences last Monday.

But sluice gates which could have prevented the water from rising as far as it did were blocked with detritus and did not allow as much water through as they could have done.

Mr Bunn, the managing director of Bunn Leisure, claimed that this could have caused the water to rise by up to 18 inches more than if the gates were clear.

Mr Bunn said he sent an email to the Environment Agency on the Sunday night requesting that the gates were cleared.

He rolled up his sleeves and joined the rest of his staff in the clean-up operation.

But while they earned his praise for their dedication, the Environment Agency has come under fire from him for not doing more to protect the fragile coastline from the ever-encroaching sea.

To ensure the survival of its four caravan parks in Selsey, Bunn Leisure has already invested more than £1million in sea defences and plans are underway for £9million more over the next two years.

When the stormy weather at the beginning of last week combined with a spring tide, the sea was whipped into a frenzy.

But while Bunn Leisure's sea defences stood firm, the shingle ones set by the Environment Agency were breached and washed away into the sea and the water flooded through.

The park was flooded with up to four-feet of water in places and with the sluice gates were blocked, the floods were as bad as they could be.

A total of 300 caravans are expected to be written off by insurers and the water cost millions of pounds of damage to electricity supplies and buildings in the park.

The Easter weekend should have been the park's most profitable of the year, netting it around £250,000 but most of the site will remain closed for the duration.

He said: "It was heart-breaking. Most of the staff here are very proud of what they do and everyone helped with the clear-up.

"The damage will cost many millions to put right.

"We currently have about 400 of our 1,500 caravans open and are getting back online between 100 and 150 a day.

ìWe hope to be fully operational again by April 4."

Mr Bunn said the full scheme of sea defences should be completed in two years time and fully protect the parkís 300-acre site and much of Selsey beyond.

A spokeswoman for the Environment Agency said: ìAlthough it is not the responsibility of the Environment Agency to unclog the sluice gates, we had undertaken this work prior to the storm on the March 10.

"With the breach of the sea defence, more material was washed into the stream causing a further blockage of the sluice.

"This again was cleared by the Environment Agency when conditions were safe enough to permit this.

"The clearance of the sluice had, as expected, little effect on flood water levels in the caravan park. ìTherefore, even if it had been safe enough to access the sluice earlier during the storm, it is clear this would have made no difference to the flooding that occurred."