THE row over the closure of the controversial Blue Anchor footpath on the new £637,000 Steam Coast Trail escalated this week when beach-side life-saving equipment was fenced off and made out of bounds to the public.
In February, Blue Anchor Chalet Owners’ Association sealed off their land with fences and gates to prevent walkers using a path through the site which connected the trail to the road at Blue Anchor station.
Now at the request of the chalet-owners, a large post-and-rail fence funded by the environmental body Natural England has been built across an area of grass previously used by the public, cutting off access to an emergency lifebuoy.
Signs direct walkers across the beach but warn that the route may not be safe at high tide.
A Blue Anchor resident told the Free Press: “Now the nearest lifefbuoy is almost halfway across the seafront.”It is crazy that we have been banned from using the one next to the chalets.
“You never know when it could be needed in an emergency, particularly as everyone using the new path has to walk along the beach. It’s almost an accident twaiting to happen.
“We have asked the district council if the safety equipment can be moved on to a public area of the seafront but nothing has been done yet.”
Full report in today’s Free Press