Rubble strewn dunes set for spring clean

Friends of Redcar (FRED) has been fighting for more than a year to get support to tackle the eyesore and permission has just been granted by Natural England to enable them to start work on clearing the area on Friday (April 10).

FRED has already carried out regular clean-up sessions on the town’s beach but due to the industrial rubble buried under the sand dunes this project is a much more complex issue.

Carl Quartermain, of FRED, said: “More than a year ago we started doing work to tidy up the beach and last summer it was brought to our attention that a complaint had been lodged with the council and the Health and Safety Executive over the rubble at the dunes.

“We brought councillors to look at the dunes and nothing was done about it. We asked the HSE to assess the dunes and still nothing was happening but we were determined to sort out the problem.”

A complaint about the dunes had been officially registered with the Health and Safety Executive on June 14 last year and FRED took on the complaint from August.

To complicate matters, part of the area is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) attracting restrictions on its management imposed by English Nature.

Mr Quartermain, who has lived in the town for 27 years, said: “After being in talks with English Nature we were granted permission to start work, so now we are calling on people in the town to come and help us.

“We have fought hard to get this far and it is an opportunity to make an improvement to the dunes. It will be our biggest project to date but it is in our hands now to do something about it.

“Hopefully, once we have cleared up the dunes we will be able to transform them into a safe area that people can enjoy.”

The first clean-up session takes place on Friday between 10am and 2pm and volunteers are asked to meet at the car park on Majuba Road. The group has its own equipment but people are asked to bring a wheelbarrow if they have one.