Our beautiful seaside town has been ruined by tourists camping on the beach – council refuses to stop them
HOMEOWNERS in a beautiful seaside town fear it's being ruined by tourists camping on the beach with the local council refusing to stop them.
Locals in Bournemouth say invaders pitching tents have been given the "green light" despite it being against the law.
The complaints come after officials in the Dorset town said they could be accused of discrimination and sued if they imposed fines.
Liberal Democrats-run Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council has received 169 complaints about beach tents over the summer.
Overnight camping is banned under a long-standing by-law.
Yet the local authority has now ruled it cannot introduce tougher new measures which would let them impose £1,000 fines.
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Officials drew up plans for a new Public Spaces Protection Order empowering wardens to hand out on-the-spot penalties.
But the council now says there was not enough evidence that overnight camping had a detrimental effect to warrant it.
And they feared they "would have been open to a legal challenge", including on grounds of discrimination.
Locals and hoteliers have condemned the backtrack, as has Conservative ward councillor Philip Broadhead.
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He said: "I just can’t believe that the council would drop these powers.
"Seventy-five per cent of residents want unauthorised camping on the beach stopped - it’s simple.
"The idea that we could lose legal cases against the council is just scaremongering - the council is hiding behind this legal opinion argument.
";They are worried there could be a legal challenge because it could look like they were targeting homeless people, when that is not the truth.
"I haven't seen any evidence of a threat of a legal challenge from someone like a homeless group or a civil rights group."
He criticised existing by-laws as having "no teeth" and said local research suggested three-quarters of locals backed a new PSPO.
It isn't fair people can rock up on our beautiful beaches and camp for free.
Councillor Philip Broadhead
The councillor added: "I think local taxpayers think it is just wrong and unfair.
"It isn't fair that people can rock up on our beautiful beaches and camp for free when most visitors pay to book into hotels and guesthouses.
"This decision is making it clear that the council will not stop overnight camping, thus giving the green light to visitors to camp here for free because they know they can get away with it.
"People see it being allowed to happen and will assume it is fine.
"We have a multi-million-pound hospitality industry here with lots of hotels that rely on bookings - this is not the message we want to send out."
There have also been protests from the Bournemouth Area Hospitality Association, representing the resort's hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses.
BAHA chairman Tim Seward said: "Our members are not in favour of people camping on the beach simply because it means that these visitors aren't paying to stay in local hotels.
"Overnight camping is a growing problem and the issue is worse than Airbnbs.
"As word gets out that nothing will happen to people who camp for free on the beach, more and more will do it rather than pay to book into a hotel.
"We have enough to contend with what with our Blue Flag beaches under threat from sewage and uncertainty over the annual air festival.
"Many hotels overlook the beach and guests are going to be looking out and seeing all these tents there and think twice bout going for a morning walk."
Rosie Radwell, managing director of the Marsham Court HoteI overlooking the beach, said illegal camping "hindered" hotels.
She said: "I think it sets the wrong tone for our beautiful beaches.
"If the council are okay with people camping on the beach, it should be in a set area which people pay for and with the proper facilities catered for - as in toilets and showers.
"In a season where the weather was not great, and hotels were not full, this also hindered some hotels on their sales of bedrooms through the season."
'VERY CLEAR LEGAL ADVICE'
Pop-up tents are said to have become familiar sights not only in Bournemouth but also in nearby Sandbanks, home to some of Britain's most lavish mansions and celebrities such as ex-Tottenham Hotspur football manager and I'm A Celeb winner Harry Redknapp.
BCP Council's tourism department previously admitted its rangers could ask unauthorised campers to leave but do not have powers to remove them.
Kieran Wilson, the council's portfolio holder for housing and regulatory services, has defended the decision not to push for a PSPO on beach camping.
In a statement to The Sun Online he said the council was bringing in a new PSPO targeting loud music, intimidating and aggressive behaviour, urination and defecation.
Open fires and barbecues on the beach could also risk £1,000 fines.
He insisted: "We believe these measures will help our officers effectively tackle the anti-social behaviour associated with overnight visitors camping on our beaches and help keep our seafront a safe, welcoming and clean place to visit.
“But we were given very clear legal advice - there was not the evidence to show that the issue of erecting a tent or gazebo met the legal definition of ‘detrimental’ that is required to implement a PSPO.
"We will continue to enforce the by-laws already in place for sleeping on the beach and collect further evidence as we do this.
"Anyone choosing to sleep overnight on our beaches and break these byelaws risks prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000."
Other complaints about tourists' beach "tent cities" in Dorset have been raised by people living beside Chesil Beach.
Another seaside town said to have now become a "disgusting tent city" is Plymouth in Devon.
And people living further west along the coast in Cornwall complained about boozy youths ruining the peace in their seaside resort Polzeath.
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Londoners have been blamed for making Kent seaside town Margate a "dirty mess" while tourists have also been condemned for their impact on Eastbourne in neighbouring East Sussex.
Further north, protests about not only tourists but also second home-buyers were made in Bamburgh on the Northumberland coast.
