Wirral Council will look to clear three hectares of a beach after years of “gridlock” over the issue.
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00:00 Wirral Council will look to clear three hectares of a beach after years of gridlock over the
00:04 issue. At an Environment Committee meeting, Council has voted to move forward an option
00:09 that will seek to clear a large section of vegetation on Hoylake Beach. As a portion
00:15 of this is around the RNLI lifeboat station, removing this would provide safe access for
00:20 their life-saving operations. Council officers will now work with Natural England and an
00:24 advisory and regulatory body to get a beach management plan approved, though any work
00:29 on the beach is not expected to take place until April 2025. If the Council went against
00:36 Natural England's advice and started clearing the beach without permission, this could mean
00:41 they were breaking the law as the beach is an area under a number of different environmental
00:45 protections. The issue has been controversial since beach management was paused following
00:50 criticism over the use of weed killer glyphosate. Concerns have been raised over the long-term
00:55 effects glyphosate has on human health as well as the environment.