Kewstoke Parish Council Writes to Weston Secondary Schools Over Exam Celebration Behaviour Concerns

Kewstoke Parish Council have published an open letter to all of Weston’s secondary schools urging them to remind students that damage and anti-social behaviour at Sand Bay should not take place during end of year exam results celebrations.

The letter reads;

“To all Weston-super-Mare area secondary schools

Dear Headteacher,

It’s fast approaching the time of year when your students and their families will be celebrating their end of year exam results and we would like to wish everybody concerned the best possible outcomes.

However, whilst this is something wonderful to celebrate, it means that sadly we see the perennial problem arising with our beautiful beaches, particularly at Sand Bay, being left in a poor state following some of these celebrations.

We wonder if you would kindly share the following

request and reminder to your students and their families by email, newsletter and/or assemblies.

Previously, we have seen examples of:

• Broken glass from bottles left on (or worse buried on) the beach.

• Rubbish strewn across wide areas of the beach.

• Large, uncontrolled fires on both the beach and dunes causing both unpleasant fumes and a heat/ fire hazard for human and animal visitors alike.

• The demolition and subsequent burning of the palisade fencing put in place at great expense by the council tohelp prevent ongoing erosion of rolling segments of the dunes.

• And finally, most unpleasant for our volunteer litter

pickers, both animal and human waste.

This is down to a tiny minority creating issues, and there’s no evidence to suggest that your students are involved, but we would appreciate you gently reminding parents and pupils alike of Beach Etiquette.

We’re asking everyone where possible, to take their litter home with them in the first instance, otherwise dispose of it thoughtfully by recycling or using the waste bins provided on the dunes.

We’re asking people not to light any fires or BBQs on the dunes themselves due to the risk of fire spreading, and that disposable BBQs from the beach should be placed into the dedicated metal BBQ bins.

We’d also like to remind people that Public Conveniences are located at the Bus Terminus at Sand Road car park in the centre of

the bay.

We really appreciate your help in communicating our

desire to preserve our wonderful coastline environment for everyone, which as many would know, is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

With kindest regards,

Ivan Jackson

Assistant Clerk, Kewstoke Parish Council

PP Jim MacDonald, Chair, Kewstoke Parish Council”