Wirral Council is to start discussions with Natural England over two different options to manage Hoylake beach.
Cllr Liz Grey, Labour’s Chair of the Environment, Transport and Climate Committee, secured majority support at a meeting last night to move forward with proposals which she argued would provide a “meaningful compromise” to “heal a sorely divided local population”.
The options to be explored are:
1: Allowing the entire beach to develop naturally, but with a focus on greatly improved access for all and the clearance of slipways
2: Removing all vegetation from a strip of the beach from Trinity Road to the RNLI station, and allowing it to develop naturally from Red Rocks to Trinity Road.
Both will be fully costed and include a thorough review of potential drainage improvement works that might be needed.
They will need to meet with Natural England’s full approval before going through to final public consultation.
They replace options put forward by officers which proposed the prevention of seaward expansion of vegetation between either the RNLI Station and Alderley Rd or the RNLI Station and King’s Gap.
Cllr Grey said: “This proposal is simply saying, within the parameters of the science and the law, is it possible to try and give everybody a bit of what they want from that beach, that really important and beautiful beach. Can everybody visit it and get something of what they want.
“These compromises are preferable for me in addressing the needs of the local population in particular, compared with the options that were on the table previously.
“The idea is that we have people go to Hoylake beach in years to come…who want to build sandcastles, play with their kids, walk their dog, they want the golden sands beach. Is it possible to address that heartfelt desire by a significant number of the population while at the same doing our utmost to protect nature and work within the law and accept the constraints of the law?”
The beach has been a divisive topic since raking was paused, and several groups have been campaigning either for or against leaving the beach to nature, or calling for a compromise.
The area is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), meaning Natural England has to be satisfied with the plan.
A consultation earlier this year was responded to by more than 3,000 people – 2,046 of them from Wirral. A total of 54.5 per cent of the Wirral responses were people from Hoylake and Meols. You can read our summary of the findings here.
Last night’s decision was taken following a fractious discussion, lasting several hours and divided along party political lines, with frequent interruptions from members of the public.
Hoylake Conservative, Councillor Andrew Gardner, questioned the inclusion in the consultation report of responses from elsewhere in the country. He was referencing environmentalist Chris Packham, who backs leaving the beach to nature. In July, the naturalist highlighted the consultation on his Facebook page, urging his followers to take part. A council analysis found his post led to 868 responses on the day, 602 of them from outside Wirral.
Fellow Hoylake councillor, Tony Cox, questioned why the consultation was carried out at all when Natural England – who he likened to “some sort of dictator” – will have the final say on the management plan of the beach.
Natural England representative Stephen Ayliffe said any proposals would be assessed on their “environmental impact” and “regulatory tests”, adding: “We’ve got restricted assessments we’re making, based on the conservation value of the site”.
He warned councillors against setting too high a bar for the removal of vegetation, saying there would need to be compensatory measures elsewhere on the beach: “There may be multipliers involved so you might end up with quite a big task in terms of finding compensation so I am just making the committee aware that that is not an easy route.”
Cllr Gardner said he was “quite happy” to meet a high bar. He proposed that all options put forward by councillors be discussed with Natural England, but this vote did not proceed as Cllr Grey’s motion was approved first.
The next stage is for discussions to take place with Natural England, and a further round of public consultation on the options.
The council has previously said it hopes to have the new management plan in place by April 2023, but Cllr Grey said the proposals which are now being looked at “may take a bit more time” to achieve.