Huge protest against sand 'stealing' as developer accused of 'killing nature'
Hundreds of people turned up on a Cornish beach to voice their anger at what they claim is sand being 'stolen' by developers. There is a lot of anger in Hayle at the moment about sand being removed from the river and an area of sand to the right of where restaurant Gilbert's is located.
Both the Hayle Harbour Authority and administrators for the Hayle North Quay housing scheme insist that no sand is being taken from the beach illegally but dredging of the river and channel down to the water's edge is necessary to prevent the port from silting up and becoming unusable.
The Hayle Harbour Act 1989 regulates dredging and sand taking at Hayle meaning diggers are allowed onto the beach to take sand away. It is then stored on site at the Hayle North Quay development, dried, then sold as soil conditioning for farms, animal bedding, children play park sand pits, or equestrian centres.
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Dredging at Hayle had been going on for decades. Up until the 1970s dredging of the harbour was done through sluicing. There were four sluicing points in the harbour, which would release vast quantities of water at once at low tide, which would force the sand in the channel out to sea and clear it until the next storm would come and undo it all.
However, with no dredging machines being available in Cornwall, it is now carried with diggers and lorries. In a leaflet to explain the process, the HHA said it takes place on spring tides which occur twice a month. They said dredging is not taking place from the dunes or the beach and sand is only removed from four zones.
Residents and holiday makers opposed to any sand being taken away believe it impacts not just this one stretch of the river area on Hayle beach but the whole of St Ives Bay from Godrevy and Gwithian at one end to Lelant, Carbis Bay and St Ives at the other end.
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Some 250 people took part in a protest at the site on Sunday (February 2) to show their feelings. Many of the protestors had banners and placards saying "Save our Sand," "Enough is enough—stop stealing Hayle sand," "love our sand," or "dredging sand equals killing nature."
Organiser Nick Reynolds, vice chairman of the Friends of the Towans group, Hayle in Blooms and Hayle Carnival, said everyone understands that dredging has to take place to allow boats up and down the river, but taking the sand also has a negative impact on the whole beach.
He said: "It was a fantastic turnout. We had so many people. They made their own banners. We have been working on this issue for years. It is a big deal because St Ives Bay has its own little sand cell and if you take it from here it will degrade it further up the beach.
"We work all along the beach and along the dunes along to Gwithian and we can see that the dunes are degraded because they take the sand away here. As the sand is moved around by the sea it then makes the dune fall down. We think that 100 per cent of that sand should be replenished."
Mr Reynolds believed the administrators behind the Hayle North Quay development and new contractors appointed to complete the project Arpenteur should not try to make money from the sand but should get on with the development and use money from the sale of the houses and flats and hotel to keep the river clear.
The administrators and HHA said the only way to keep the river flowing in Hayle harbour is through the sale of sand which funds dredging.
Mr Reynolds added: "Ideally, I'd like to see sluicing come back, but I'm not sure it's going to happen. We know dredging has to happen, but they need to stop removing the sand. They should get on with the work and build these affordable houses and put the money back into keeping the channel clear, fixing the hole in the harbour wall, and building the bridge across to Asda."
St Ives MP Andrew George, a resident of Hayle and member of the Friends of the Towans, attended the protest as a resident as Hayle is in Labour MP Perran Moon's constituency.
He told the BBC: "We want to make sure that the law is abided by and we want to make sure the environment is protected."
A closed-door meeting between Hayle Town Council, representatives of the Hayle North Quay developers, the Environmental Agency, Natural England, Cornwall Council and Hayle Harbour Authority and local MP Perran Moon is expected to take place tomorrow (Tuesday, February 4).
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