A disabled woman says she doesn’t “feel safe” walking on a beach at the centre of a “civil war” dividing a town.
Charlotte Smith, 53, says the growth of vegetation on Hoylake beach makes it difficult to walk on due to her eyesight. The row over the beach has been going on since 2019 when Wirral Council stopped spraying weed killer and clearing the beach after being threatened with legal action and an unlimited fine.
It has split the town into two camps with very different visions for how the beach should look. A protected area, the beach is considered likely to develop into sand dunes with the council developing two options with Natural England, a government body, on how to manage it in the future.
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Charlotte is a member of the Hoylake Beach Community, a group who are arguing for a large section of the beach to be cleared. This option was narrowly rejected by councillors who said it was not legally possible.
She said: “If I was to go out onto the beach now, there’s already rubbish lying around everywhere so I can’t see what’s on the path properly and because of my lack of depth perception, I don’t know what I’m walking into. The grass is also knee-high in some places.
“I’ve got peripheral vision in my left eye and my right eye is okay but going down the steps as I get older, it’s getting harder. I don’t feel safe walking on the beach anymore”
Disability access has been a big issue with the beach.
In a large consultation, nearly 50% of people in Hoylake said they were worried people might lose access to the beach, while 24.4% said they wanted to see a compromise. For people from across Wirral though the picture was more mixed with 36% arguing a natural beach would have no impact.
Charlotte has had a long relationship with the beach. Born in Liverpool, she moved to nearby Meols when she was four and then Hoylake in the 1980s. Her dad was in the merchant navy and used to volunteer with the RNLI at the time. This meant Charlotte spent a lot of time at the beach as a child helping out her dad on events days
She said: "I’ve got a lot of history with the beach.I helped with the volunteering on lifeboat open days so I know the beach really well. When the beach was able to be walked on and it was a proper beach. I used to go down in the summer and walk to West Kirby and back but I can’t do that anymore.”
Those who want it to develop into a natural habitat argue the vegetation makes it easier for access by holding the sand together and both options passed by councillors said access will be a priority in both future options for the beach.
A spokesperson for the council said: “Accessibility issues are under consideration as part of the formulation of the new Beach Management Plan.”
The beach means a lot to Charlotte who often asks questions on the issue at council meetings, sometimes armed with a bucket and spade. She said: “It meant the ability for me to go out, either to think about things that were troubling me or just enjoy going for a walk.
“It was an amenity area for me to go, along with other people. I can’t do that now with all the grass and the weeds.”
Charlotte says she used to go down several times a year, especially during the summer months but stopped once her dad became ill. He passed away in 2019. She said she’s been down to the beach once this year but had to be assisted.
She’s disappointed the issue has become so political and said she has been subjected to smears and vitriol, something people on both sides said they have received.
However she said she's keen to work with the council and officers on making sure the beach remains accessible whatever happens.
She said: “Absolutely disabled people should be involved. We’re the ones who have to live with it. We’ve got the experience to put forward our ideas.
“The council has a duty to make access to goods and services accessible for people with disabilities. It means they’re going to have to clear the slipways. I’ve personally seen people fall down there and I wouldn’t have a hope in hell of getting down that slipway.”
Wirral Council is currently developing the final two options for beach management based on environmental and legal advice before going to Natural England to see if either option would be approved. Natural England has the final say on any plan.
Both options will then go back to the public for a final say with an expected finish for the whole process in spring 2023.
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