Coronavirus: Volunteers to help with Bournemouth beach patrols

Beach-goers enjoyed Bournemouth beach in the sunshine earlier this week

Volunteers are going be deployed to patrol beaches to help curb anti-social behaviour following an influx of visitors.

Tens of thousands of people have flocked to the Dorset coast since lockdown restrictions were eased.

Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council said volunteers were needed to support council workers.

Current rules state that households can drive any distance in England to destinations such as parks and beaches.

Council workers reported being verbally abused as they tried to enforce rules over parking and beach barbecues as thousands descended on Bournemouth over the weekend.

BCP Council leader Vikki Slade said towns were being "overwhelmed" by visitors "not respecting either space or in some cases common decency".

"People travelling from as far as Wigan and Liverpool make it virtually impossible for us to maintain our services, now that the police enforcement powers have been diminished," she said.

During an online Q&A session, Ms Slade said the council only had about 25 staff available to patrol a 15-mile stretch of coastline, as opposed to "a couple of hundred" during a normal mid-summer, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

She said volunteers would work in groups "keeping an eye" on beaches from Friday, supported by council supervisors.

Ms Slade said they would be recruited from the several thousand people who signed up to help the council's coronavirus response, given health and safety advice and told how to avoid "difficult conversations".

Ms Slade said she was "really disappointed" with the government's response to Dorset council leaders' plea to reinstate some restrictions on travel and raising concerns of a rise in Covid-19 cases.

There was a similar influx of visitors along the Jurassic Coast with three people seriously injured jumping from the limestone arch at Durdle Door.

'Staying alert'

Responding to the councils' request, a government spokesman said: "Over the course of the pandemic people across the country have made huge sacrifices, and thanks to the efforts of the public the government's five tests are being met and we can begin slowly moving towards the next phase of lifting the lockdown.

"But we all still need to play our part by staying alert, and continuing to follow social distancing guidelines.

"The overwhelming majority of the public are following the rules, and we expect the police to use their discretion, judgement and experience in enforcing them."

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