There are again concerns that sand is being 'stolen' from a Cornish beach and no-one is doing anything about it. Residents and visitors to Hayle have once again raised the issue that diggers and lorries are scooping the sand from the beach along the estuary and taking it away.
The issue is not new and was last highlighted in the summer last year when voices were raised against the practice. Taking to social media, people have been commenting that the beach is being dug up, claiming it's damaging to the environment and is a hazard to beach goers.
On the Help Stop Hayle Sand Being Taken away! public Facebook page, group members, whether locals or holiday makers have been posting pictures and videos of diggers and lorries at work along the beach by the river.
Donna Bolton, from Satffordshire, said: "It looks worse than what I thought. They are actually digging up the beach. The thing people don’t realise is this could happen to other beaches.. will any beaches be safe in the future?" She added: "When I visited last October I thought the beach had changed. This is unbelievable."
Adrian Crocker added: "Absolutely appalling the beach will never be the same again." An anonymous poster who also took lots of pictures and videos of diggers in action added: "I am shocked to see the images of beautiful Hayle beach. Well done to everyone actively trying to raise awareness."
Chris Dormer said: "It's the sand that we sit on and our children play on that is being taken not the dredging of the estuary." SOS Cornwall added: "If work continues the following week locals will be continuing to protest to halt the Lorrie’s going out until good enough answers are given and work is stopped so Hayle beach can start to heal and those who have studied this can rest knowing they are now doing the right thing. The estuary has already been dredged for navigational purposes. There is no need to continue this and hasn’t been for months."
In August last year, Sophie Daniels launched a petition to see the end of dredging on the Change.org website. She explained: "In recent times, our once tranquil beach is suffering as tonnes of sand are removed day and night, sold for profit with no thought of the environmental repercussions.
"Authorities justify the mining, claiming it is necessary for keeping the channel clear for fishermen. But the reality is clearly different. Excavation is taking place on the beach, far from the central channel they declare to keep clear.
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"The ill effects of this relentless mining are evident. Night-time operations disrupt peace, and the incessant excavation poses a risk to our children's safety on the beach. Furthermore, it's a serious threat to the delicate ecosystem and local wildlife that call this beach home. The often cited study in the Journal of Coastal Research has consistently shown that sand mining impacts coastal and marine biodiversity and flood defences.
"Hayle Beach, a gem of Cornwall and voted Best Beach in the UK by The Times, deserves to be protected and nurtured, not exploited. Our plea is simple: cease the sand mining immediately. This isn't merely about preserving our beach for recreational purposes. It's about safeguarding our ecosystem, our local community, and our future."
Opponents to the practice are so furious they have now organised a protest outside Gilbert's Beach Bar on Sunday (February 2) from 1pm to 3pm.
Cllr Peter Channon, Cornwall councillor for Hayle West and a member of the Cornwall Harbours Board, said the harbour is regulated by and operates under the Hayle Harbour Act (HHA) 1989.
He said the first furore about sand being dug up came about when failed bankrupt developer Simon Wright, who was behind the collapsed companies that were building the North Quay development, took sand from the area known as Riviera Fields, which is part of the dunes system now overlooking the unfinished development.
He said people got angry but the new contractors, Arpenteur, appointed by the administrators after Mr Wright's businesses went into administration this time last year, are no longer doing that.
Cllr Channon said the issue is complicated by the fact that the harbour at Hayle is privately owned along with the area of the river estuary and bit of beach where Gilbert's is located.
"It's not a beach owned by Cornwall Council, it's part of the harbour and it's privately owned," he said. "The river has to be dredged on a regular basis or the channel becomes too shallow for boats. Put simply, the harbour at Hayle will cease to exist if there is no dredging."
Hayle Harbour gets silted by both Atlantic storms churning up the sand in St Ives Bay and dumping it along the river bank and estuary and by the muddy river flowing down.
Cllr Channon said dredging and keeping the river deep enough for boats to get in and out is paid for by the sale of the sand taken away. He said that it is illegal for the Hayle Harbour Authority to dump dredged up sand back in the bay, which is why it has to be taken off site and sold.
He told CornwallLive that up until the 1970s dredging of the harbour was done through sluicing. There were four sluicing points in the harbour which would release vast quantities of water at once at low tide which would force the sand in the channel out to sea and clear it until the next storm would come and undo it all.
Since the closure of the factories and the end of the coal boats coming from Swansea to power the various heavy industries on Hayle Quay, dredging has been done with diggers and lorries as no-one in Cornwall has a dredger big enough to do the job or any sand sucking machines that can do it cheaply.
"It's not a business to remove the sand," he added. "It's a business to clear the channel. It costs a lot of money to do and the only way to pay for it is by selling off the sand."
He said that the issue seems to kick off again every six months or so but dredging is a legitimate operation to keep the harbour operating.
Dredging at Hayle has nothing to do with Cornwall Council but is regulated by an act of parliament. The Hayle Harbour Act (HHA) 1989 gives the Hayle Harbour Authority (HHA) the authority to dredge Hayle Harbour, operate the harbour, ensure safe navigation, and give the HHA the power to maintain and improve the facility.
Hayle Town Council said it is aware of the concerns from residents and visitors and are currently in talks with representatives of the Hayle North Quay developers, Environmental Agency, Natural England, Cornwall Council and Hayle Harbour Authority on the matter.
It said that all interested parties including Labour's local MP Perran Moon, have agreed to meet up to report on their findings in the first week of February.
In a post on its Facebook page, the town council said: "It is anticipated by that stage, all parties will be able to speak with more clarity and share the work that has been going on behind the scenes.
"Please be assured that Hayle Town Council is proactively engaging with all relevant bodies and will present information to the public when it is in a position to."
A spokesperson for the Hayle North Quay administrators and new contractors who took over the housing development after Mr Wright's companies went bust owing millions, said there has been a lot of misconceptions circulating on social media about dredging.
In an email to CornwallLive, they said that dredging the channel at Hayle Harbour is perfectly legal, and the Hayle Harbour Authority is given the authority under the Hayle Harbour Act 1989 to undertake operations.
They said dredging is needed to provide a safe channel for fishing and sailing boats to navigate, adding that it maximises the flow of the tide to naturally flush the channel, maintaining the estuaries ecosystem, the site of special scientific interest (SSSI) and nearby RSPB reserve, as well as contributing towards managing flood risk.
They insisted also that dredging is not taking place from the dunes or the beach and sand is only removed from four zones. They said that the amount of sand taken is monitored by the HHA through timeline photography and bathymetry surveys.
"The latest survey was taken in December 2024, which showed that many areas of the channel are shallower than they were in 2021. For example, near the Fisherman’s Compound, there has been a 0.6 metre increase in sediment. Dredging activity takes place at the estuary, not on the beach, there may be misunderstanding about dredging the beach as there is a build-up of sediment that needs to be removed from the edge of the channel."
The spokesperson also said that the HHA can dredge to the depth of the channel outlined on admiralty charts, and once the channel is at the requisite depth, dredging activities will be less frequent.
They added: "Dredging operations are not linked to the development at Hayle North Quay. Dredging takes place to maintain the harbour and any proceeds from sand sales is reinvested in the harbour to support the costs of maintaining and operating the harbour. To be clear the sale of sand does not cover operating costs."
The HHA has also issued a leaflet about why it has to dredge the area and what happens to the sand. It says that it goes to farms for soil conditioning, is used for cattle bedding, equestrian schools, children's play sand pit. The leaflet adds that dredging has to take place on Spring tides which occur twice a month.
The leaflet adds: "Revenue from the sand sales is reinvested into the harbour, helping to maintain and operate it. The proceeds made from the sale of sand do not come close to covering the harbour's operating costs.
"Without regular dredging, sand will accumulate, making navigation difficult and dangerous for vessels. It will also reduce the time window for boats to safely enter or leave the harbour."
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