A legal claim has been filed under the Equality Act against Wirral Council over difficulties for people accessing Hoylake beach.
Local resident David Cooke has submitted the claim to Wirral County Court, and says he is backed by 200 people who have signed witness statements, as well as the Friends of Hoylake and West Kirby Beaches.
The council was served with a letter giving notice of intent to commence proceedings on 21 July, and given 21 days to respond, which it failed to do.
It is the latest development in a bitter and long-running saga which began when Wirral Council stopped clearing the beach in 2019.
Last year, the council approved a new management plan backed by two-thirds of those who took part in a consultation.
But Natural England, which is the government’s regulatory body on environmental issues, rejected the plan – but did rule that clearance of the beach was allowed at Alderley Road and Trinity Road to enable access for the RNLI to the lifeboat station.
The legal action contends that, in this instance, the Equality Act overrides countryside and wildlife legislation and the access point at King’s Gap should also be cleared.
David Cooke told West Kirby Today: “It is a fact that the Council are breaking the law on a continuing daily basis and have been made aware of this fact since February; they have also had approval from Natural England to clear some of the access location since January, yet they continue to ignore the public complaints. Their sheer arrogance is so frustrating.
“I added a ‘Schedule of Evidence to be Provided’ to the claim, to show that this is not just some local who is trying to make a claim, that it is a claim based on proper research evidence and the law.
“As a measure of how disgusted local residents are, I would point out that over 200 people have provided Witness Statements supporting the claim.”
West Kirby Today understands that the council has received the correspondence and will respond in due course.
Photos credit: Wendy Bennett
