Forum set up to protect beaches

Forum set up to protect beaches

20 January 2016

A NEW Forum has been set up to protect and promote the beaches along the Lecale and Mourne coastline.

The Forum will be responsible for all beaches between Strangford village in the north to Carlingford Lough in the south and has received the support of councillors from all parties.

The body has been set up by Newry, Mourne and Down Council and senior council officials are currently examining a proposal that the project be managed by the Strangford Lough and Lecale Partnership.

Among the issues on the top of the Forum agenda is pollution and littering, protection of wildlife, conserving the natural structure of beaches and marketing the area for tourism.

Some of the specific projects already on the agenda include:

Applying for EU Bathing Water Designation (BWD) for beaches at Kilclief, Ballyhornan and Killough.

Conducting an audit of beaches along the whole of the council’s coastline to determine if other beaches should be considered for BWD and Green Flag designation in the future.

Managing the coast for wildlife and recreation linking with related tourism initiatives and protect some beaches, like Minerstown and Rossglass, with an emphasis on wildlife.

Engaging local people in beach management, litter clean-ups, wildlife conservation, beach promotion and running activities. Engage with fishing community on the ongoing problem of dumping at sea.

Targeting the development of the Down Coastal Walk as agreed through the council.

Councillor Cadogan Enright has been the driving force behind the establishment of the Forum and he has thanked local Sinn Fein MLA Chris Hazzard and councillors Robert Burgess, of the UUP, and Willie Clarke, of Sinn Fein for their support.

“At the moment, no one group or government authority has responsibility for the management of our beaches, unlike the north coast where a focussed council-led group, with representatives of all government departments, is already in place,” said Mr Enright.

“Thus littering issues, protection of wildlife, protecting the natural structure of the beaches and marketing some of the for Tourism is the responsibility of ‘nobody’. Now we can start to get things done,” he added.

“This project was assisted by MLA Chris Hazzard obtaining £5,000 funding to investigate all legal and land ownership issues with regard to the first three local beaches we were focusing on — Killough, Ballyhornan and Kilclief. 

“Whilst most beaches of our beaches are in the Lecale area, it has been broadened out to tackle all our beaches in South Down,” he said.

The establishment of the Forum has also been welcomed by Mr Hazzard who has raised the proposal on the floor of the Assembly and with the council.

“This forum represents an opportunity to address long standing issues of neglect and mismanagement of the Down coastline,” he said.

“I want to thank local councillors and Strangford Lough and Lecale Partnership (SLLP) for coming on board. Working together I am confident we can achieve great things.”