Tributes paid after ‘huge clean-up operation’ along Sefton coastline

Thanks have been paid to everyone who completed “a huge clean-up operation” along our coastline at the weekend. 

People are once again being urged to take their litter home with them when they visit beaches at places including Southport, Ainsdale, Formby and Crosby. 

Cllr Ian Moncur, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing has added his thanks to the authority’s Green Sefton teams and volunteers who were out on Sunday clearing up the borough’s coastline after an influx of visitors on Saturday.

He said: “Sadly, and despite our pleas to take their rubbish home, visitors to our coast on Saturday left us with a huge clean up job on Sunday.

“We have been prioritising consistent litter clearance and bin emptying, we’ve put skips in place for people to dump their litter and we have as well as providing visitors with free bags for their rubbish.

“But unfortunately, we still find ourselves putting a considerable amount of effort into clearing up after the visitors when they have gone home.

“I saw a number of comments on social media on Sunday, thanking our teams for the work they were doing to clear the rubbish and I would like to add my thanks too, to our staff and the volunteers who work with them to maintain our coastline’s natural beauty.”

Portaloos at Ainsdale Beach in Southport

 As well as installing the skips Green Sefton have deployed additional Rangers to assist with car park management, beach cleaning and visitors with assistance and advice.

Portable loos are located at Crosby and Ainsdale beaches once again – with increased maintenance owing to the high volume of visitors and volunteer ‘beach ambassadors’ are also on hand at peak times to educate visitors on the special nature of the Sefton coastline.

In addition, Ainsdale and Southport beach car parks are now open until the end of September to ease parking complaints in nearby residential areas and variable traffic signs are, once again, being to direct vehicles to locations where parking is available and away from areas that are full. Enforcement of penalties for illegal and inconsiderate parking is also being targeted.

Anyone planning a visit to the Sefton coast should visit www.sefton.gov.uk/beaches to find out about travel options and facilities at its beaches and to read its Visitor Action Plan for 2021.

Sefton Council continues to work with the Sefton Coast Landscape Partnership that brings together organisations who want to ensure the safety of visitors and residents along the 22-mile coastline. Members include Sefton Council, Merseyside Police, Merseyside Fire and Rescue, British Transport Police, National Trust Formby, Natural England, the RNLI and others.

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