Legal advice sought as fence blocks access to beach

Residents on Dorset's exclusive Sandbanks peninsula say they are seeking legal advice over access rights to a beach after it was blocked off by a fence.

Public footpath 82 runs from Panorama Road down to the edge of Poole Harbour and had previously been used by locals to access the beach and foreshore.

But a sign now warns people to stay within the 1.8m-wide path, adding: "Trespassers will be prosecuted."

Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council said the land was "in ownership" and no planning application was required for the fence.

Sandbanks Community Group chairman Norman Allenby-Smith said he was getting "literally hundreds of messages daily" from members of the residents' association saying "it's got to be resolved".

Speaking to BBC Radio Solent, he said: "The time has come to get a legal opinion so that everybody knows what their rights are.

"What we're trying to do is make it clear what right the landowners have over the beach and the foreshore and what public rights there are as a result of people, for the last 30 to 40 years, walking along that stretch of the foreshore.

"We tried to resolve this amicably and discussions went on for some time and sadly that didn't succeed.

"This is an important point of law to get established."

BCP Council said the boundary fence did not require planning permission

BCP Council said it would not comment on the "private dispute" but said: "As the land is in ownership, there is no planning application required for the fence."

A council spokesperson added that the beach was private and there was "nothing further to suggest public access is possible".