Fears beach work will hit business

HSaturday, April 17, 2021

OTELIERS at a West resort fear council works on its beach will dent trade in the peak season just after they reopen.

Lyme Regis in Dorset is expecting to be particularly busy this summer, with uncertainty surrounding overseas travel.

But hoteliers are fearing a repeat of previous years when the beach was shut for several days in May and June to allow work to take place.

Now they are appealing for better planning to avoid this.

Kathyrn Haskins, director of the Alexandra Hotel and restaurant, said: “Why does Dorset Council find it necessary to reprofile Lyme Regis’s main beach during what we all hope will be a busy tourist period?

“The beach was closed for days on end in June last year whilst reprofiling and dredging was undertaken. The dredging saw sand being pumped by huge machinery for weeks on end and making the beach very uninviting for all. This wasn’t an unprecedented occurrence as the year before this was done over the main May Bank Holiday period, causing the beach to be closed over the bank holiday in that year.

“This has been brought up with your officers and their response is that they will try and avoid bank holidays when the beach profiling is undertaken but that it is sometimes unavoidable. But I would ask why is it unavoidable? Surely with forward planning this could be avoided?”

A similar question to Thursday evening’s Dorset Council meeting was asked by Ben Matthews, managing director of Lyme Bay Holidays.

Environment portfolio holder for

Dorset Council, Cllr Ray Bryan, says that the beach reprofiling works are organised so that at least some of the area can remain open at all times.

He told councillors that weather and tidal conditions and the availability of contractors meant it was often difficult to arrange the works when the council would like it done,

despite planning well in advance.

“Technical issues and weather conditions may disrupt schedules, but our intention is always to avoid holiday periods where possible. Last year’s schedule was impacted heavily by Covid, resulting in the works being done much later than normal,” said Cllr Bryan.

> Left, the beach works in May last year; above, council environment chief Cllr Ray Bryan