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A petition has been launched calling on Wirral Council to take "immediate action" over controversial gates installed at Heswall foreshore, with critics arguing they should not have been locked before the wider improvement project was finished.
The council recently installed and locked a large yellow gate on Banks Road. This was part of a project - which cost £200,000 to clear 50 abandoned boats from the foreshore. Officials said people had been towing boats into the area and abandoning them, damaging the environment in that area.
However, the move has caused a row over the foreshore being blocked by the gate, stopping boat users and residents from accessing it, or so they say. They have said the boats have come from the sea and not the road. As reported by Birkenhead News, one resident called the gates "an eyesore and much worse than the boats that were there."
The foreshore debacle has attracted much attention, more so with Simon and Gemma Robins, who run the Ship Happens YouTube channel. Their YouTube channel, which has over 140,000 subscribers, has documented the five-year proccess and restoration of their boat Sarinda, a Second World War boat used during the D-Day landings.
Last week, The Local Democracy Reporting Service said that the gate was affecting the restoration of their boat. Other concerns relayed over the gate are its lack of access for wheelchair users. The council has responded to this, saying they will improve the area around the gate by "using gravel to level the surface".
Still, locals aren't happy, and a petition for the council to intervene has been launched. One request laid out in the petition wishes the gate to stay open until the project is complete.
One part of the petition reads, "The petition states: “Additional access paths are still to be constructed around the gates as part of the wider project. If those works are necessary, the gates should not have been brought into operation before the project was completed.” The Change.org position, started by Ged Mcbeath now has almost 1,200 signatures at the time of writing.
A spokesperson for Wirral Council responded to the demands laid out in the petition. They acknowledged that Heswall residents value the foreshore, but argued the council has a "legal responsibility" to protect it, as it is a protected environmental site. Therefore, it is part of their mission to remove the boats, which they noted do not "have permission to be there". In their words, the removal of the boats is safeguarding the foreshore for the future.
With the introduction of the gate, the spokesperson reasoned that it "prevents further boats from being abandoned on the foreshore".
Also in the statement, the council mentioned the accessibility concerns. They say the gate installation maintains pedestrian access on "both sides, including to the King Charles III Coastal Path".
The statement concluded, "These actions are about protecting a sensitive and internationally important stretch of coastline, ensuring the foreshore can continue to support wildlife and be enjoyed responsibly by residents and visitors alike. The council remains committed to ensuring the foreshore is accessible to pedestrians while also taking the necessary steps to protect a sensitive and internationally important stretch of coastline.”
