Popular beach can be enjoyed by all just as it used to be
ABEACH that was once the pride of Torquay is being restored to its former glory, after a group decided ‘enough is enough’.
Graham Stephenson and Jim Cairns have harnessed people power to save Beacon Cove by raising money and shutting it off at night.
The pretty little beach in a hidden corner near the town’s harbour was once the favourite spot for Torquay locals to take a quick dip – including world-famous crime writer Agatha Christie.
Over the years, families have been driven away when the beach became a haven for drug and drinking parties. It became unsafe for children because of broken glass, left after rowdy late-night fights and bonfires which upset the neighbourhood.
It has been transformed now, after residents raised £11,000 which paid for a revolutionary magnetised electronic gate, which seals off the cove automatically every night.
Most of the money came from local residents happy to donate £100 each to see the beach brought back to life.
“The gates have worked – it’s a positive news story,” Graham said. “All the broken glass has been removed and it’s safe for children to play down there again.”
The money also paid to install CCTV and now the residents are creating a decorative outdoor museum, telling visitors the history and ecology of the area, including the nationally important seagrass beds growing offshore.
The residents are also about to landscape and plant the muddy mound beneath the sign, to stop it being used as a shortcut.
Simon Pinder, Torbay Council’s marine, leisure and beach services manager, was praised for helping tie the project together.
Simon said: “We’ve not got gates on any other beaches and there was some nervousness about the idea at first – but it works great. The gates are controlled from the harbour office and we can rotate the CCTV cameras and see what’s going on.”
Graham said: “To try and do this without any help would have been impossible. Simon has supported us all the way through.”
The gates were designed by retired chartered engineer Jim Cairns and built by a local company.
Many of the people who donated £100 said they had happy memories of Beacon Cove in its glory days.
Jim said: “I was amazed at the number of people who loved the cove and remembered it from childhood, or who said it was where they learned to swim. So many people had very fond memories and wanted to help us.
“It’s a great example of a community getting together and changing attitudes. I don’t know where the drug addicts go now at night – but they don’t come here,” he added.
“It’s now a family-oriented place again, you see whole families with their kids having a picnic. It’s nice to see.”
Graham, who lives at Imperial Court, above the beach, said: “It’s like a natural amphitheatre and all the noise would rise up from the beach.
“In summer, you couldn’t open your windows at night or go out on the balcony with all the drinking and screaming until two in the morning,” he added. “It was horrific.”
Another neighbour, Barry Taylor, said he went to try to stop one riotous party – but decided it was not a good idea.
“I went down one night – but to no avail,” he recalled. “When you have a large group who have been drinking it’s not safe – I hadn’t heard language like that since my army days.”
There are now moves to make the area part of the town centre Antisocial Behaviour Zone, which will give police and council officers powers to remove people drinking on the beach at night, if they do climb over the gates or fences.
‘I was amazed at the number of people who loved the cove and remembered it from childhood’