Call for urgent action after North Wales beach named ‘most disappointing’ in UK

A CALL has been made for urgent action after a North Wales beach was voted the most disappointing in the UK.

Aberconwy MS Janet Finch-Saunders has accused the Welsh Government of “not giving anything back” to Llandudno’s hoteliers, retailers, and residents after the town’s North Shore beach was named the most disappointing, according to TripAdvisor reviews.

In 2014 Conwy County Council placed hundreds of tonnes of boulders on the beach as part of a sea defense scheme.

While the town is better protected from rising sea levels, some say the beach is now unusable for many visitors.

In March the Welsh Government gave Conwy Council £5.2m for improvements to its latest sea-defence scheme, protecting 4,982 residential properties and 1,056 businesses.

But the Welsh Government refuses to pay the additional £12m needed to create 600m of sandy beach as part of the scheme.

Mrs Finch-Saunders has slammed the Welsh Government, accusing them of giving nothing back to businesses, residents and visitors who pay millions in taxes every year.

“I’m absolutely appalled by the Welsh Government,” she said.

“The option that was put to them was a business case supported by Conwy County Council itself for a sandy beach restoration.

“Yes, it was more of a cost, but when you look at the figures and take away what was spent on Penrhyn Bay and take away what they’ve spent on West Shore, the difference wasn’t that much in the scheme of things .

“I believe a sandy beach is important to our town. I also know, in terms of revenue from business rates that our retailers and our hoteliers pay, it is millions of pounds that comes from Llandudno as a whole, and everybody I speak to wants to see a sandy beach restored.

“It’s not just about aesthetics. It’s about disabled people can’t go on there. Children can’t go on there. The elderly can’t go on there.

Children do go on there, and they get injured.

“It is shocking, and I keep fighting this because they are wrong to be doing this cheap scheme as they did in 2014 when they spent £1.4m of Welsh Government money to just dump quarry rock.

“It was horrendous, and of course, some of those (rocks) have worn down over the years, but we don’t want that hard rock approach.
“There is talk of more rocks going on there. We want a sea defense scheme that restores the sand.

“If they won’t pay for it through the sea defense money, the Welsh Government should be looking at the amenities that beach gives to our tourism, and they should be giving us tourism funding.”

Mrs Finch-Saunders said she believes the Welsh Government would have paid the £12m needed if Llandudno beach was in South Wales.

“We are fed up with all the big projects going on in South Wales. This is an ask for the beach in Llandudno to be restored once and for all, to give back to the hoteliers, the retailers, the visitors, the residents. Just give them the beach they want once and for all,” she said.

“Anything that damages Llandudno’s reputation… We cannot afford to see people buying packages in the Lake District or other parts of England.

“We want them to come to Llandudno.

“Llandudno is a Victorian holiday destination and has been kept beautifully by Mostyn Estates and all our hard-working private business owners who don’t get anything from the Welsh Government, but they do spend a lot.

“Some of the hotels pay £700,000 a year, £500,000 a year, in business rates, and what do they get? Nothing.”

A Welsh Government spokeswoman said: “Our flood risk management budget aims to reduce risk to life and property and there are key things we consider before approving funding.

“These include the level of flood protection afforded to the community, associated environmental and carbon impacts, and value for money.

“Conwy’s outline business case found that installing a sandy beach would be significantly more expensive than their preferred option.

“It would also have much greater environmental and carbon impacts and would not provide any additional flood risk benefit.”

Conwy County Council was contacted for a comment.