Demand for sand after beach gets panned

North shore beach in Llandudno was covered in rocks in 2014 as part of a sea defence scheme

A beach which has been voted the most disappointing in the UK is unusable because of sea defences installed by the Welsh government, a politician has said.

Hundreds of tonnes of boulders were added to Llandudno's North Shore beach in 2014 to protect it from rising sea levels.

However, the Welsh government refused to pay the additional £12m needed to create 600m of sandy beach as part of the scheme.

Janet Finch-Saunders, Aberconwy's Member of the Senedd, accused the Welsh government of giving nothing back to businesses, residents and visitors.

The Welsh government said sand would "have much greater environmental and carbon impacts and would not provide any additional flood risk benefit".

In 2014 Conwy council placed hundreds of tonnes of boulders on the beach as part of a sea defence scheme.

North Shore was voted the most disappointing, based on a study.

In March the Welsh government gave Conwy council £5.2m for improvements to its latest sea defence scheme, with a view to protecting 4,982 homes and 1,056 businesses.

Ms Finch-Saunders said: "I believe a sandy beach is important to our town.

"It’s not just about aesthetics. It is about disabled people can’t go on there. Children can’t go on there. The elderly can’t go on there."

She said if sand restoration cannot be paid for from the sea defence scheme, the government "should be giving us tourism funding".

Rhos on Sea beach recently had a revamp with about one million tonnes of sand added

In March 2023 Colwyn Bay's Rhos-on-Sea beach got a revamp with about one million tonnes of sand used to cover the rocky sea defence.

This £14m project prompted many to call for the same treatment for Llandudno's North Shore beach.

The Welsh government said its flood risk management budget aimed to protect lives and property and the business plan proposed by the council for the sandy beach would be "significantly more expensive" than its "preferred option".

Conwy council has been asked to comment.