Durdle Door beach owners call for 'basic manners' code

Thousands of visitors flocked to Durdle Door when previous lockdown restrictions were eased

Beauty spot owners want a code of "basic manners" to be brought in after beaches were "abused" when previous lockdown rules were eased.

The Lulworth Estate in Dorset has lodged a petition with the government asking for expected standards of behaviour for visitors to be set out.

Last summer Durdle Door saw piles of litter, overcrowding and anti-social behaviour.

It wants a nationwide public campaign to prevent a repeat of the issues.

Crowds of people flocked to the popular beauty spot in Dorset

The estate wants visitors to all countryside sites, including Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove, to stick to a number of ground rules including taking their rubbish home and not lighting fires.

It said: "The huge change in visitor demographic caused by Covid restrictions in 2020 caused environmental degradation such as has never been experienced before.

"Spending months clearing up litter and human faeces day after day, calling 999 to prevent BBQ fires from spreading uncontrolled, or to accidents which didn't need to happen is not something that anybody wishes to repeat in 2021."

Dozens of names, hashtags and messages were removed from the cliffs

The estate wants the government to enact a public campaign urging tourists to be "responsible countryside citizens" with a "'countryside code".

Durdle Door beach saw "horrendous" amounts of rubbish left during the summer while dozens of names, hashtags and messages were also daubed by beachgoers on the cliffs.

In May, three people were badly hurt jumping from the limestone arch and there were several instances of swimmers getting into difficulties with no lifeguards present.

Beachgoers had to abandon social distancing when rescue helicopters landed on Durdle Door Beach to pick up injured tombstoners

To limit visitor numbers in June, a booking system for its car park was also brought in and marshals patrolled the beach to discourage tombstoning.

The beach is on the Jurassic Coast Unesco World Heritage site which is part of the privately-owned Lulworth Estate.