'Divisive' beach grass should be cleared - council

Grass growing on Hoylake beach has divided opinion in the town

A large stretch of beach which is slowly turning into a grassland should be cleared, a council has said.

Wirral Council wants to remove three hectares of vegetation on Hoylake beach in the north west of the Wirral Peninsula.

The grassland developed after the authority stopped spraying chemicals to prevent grass growing and stopped raking the sands in 2019.

It is an issue that has been described as "divisive" by residents in the area.

To be able to go ahead with the beach clearing, the council will now need to agree a beach management plan with advisory and regulatory body Natural England.

At an environment committee meeting Labour, Conservative, and Liberal Democrat councillors voted to clear a “large stretch” of Hoylake beach in a bid to resolve the issue.

The committee’s two Green councillors voted against the plans.

The issue has divided opinion in the town since beach management was paused following criticism over the use of the weedkiller glyphosate.

People in the town of Hoylake have described the issue as "divisive", though a council consultation done in 2022 showed greater support for a cleared beach than in other parts of Wirral.

The consultation found 41.8% of those in Hoylake wanted “a balance between a natural beach and maintained beach” while 34.1% wanted it to “look managed and maintained".

A beach management plan must be agreed with regulatory body Natural England

Only 24.1% wanted the beach to stay completely natural and in a 2024 consultation, nearly 70% of Wirral residents supported the option ultimately passed by councillors.

Since 2019, Wirral Council has spent an estimated £244,000 developing future plans and expects to spend another £50,000 before any work can begin.

After that it expects to spend £230,000 clearing vegetation on beaches in West Kirby and Hoylake with ongoing annual costs of £30,000 for maintenance and monitoring of the area.

Any clearing work must be approved by Natural England and would not start until April next year.