Conservation plan for St Annes sand dunes

9:40pm Tuesday 19th August 2008

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The sand dunes of St Annes are a popular landmark often taken for granted but the much loved sand hills now have a champion to help with their conservation and restoration.

Fylde Borough Council now has a unique Dune land Conservation Officer supplied by the Lancashire Wildlife Trust (LWT) thanks to funding granted by the aggregates Levy Fund.

She will now work on promoting the conservation of the dunes and organising volunteer groups.

The new officer will also work with consultants who are currently working on a Dune land Conservation Action Plan in partnership with Natural England, the LWT and funded through the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP).

The plan will be looking at replacing lost dunes and restoring wildlife habitats.

Preparation of the report is already underway and should be complete by spring of next year.

In the mean time the conservation officer will be visiting schools, Blackpool and the Fylde College, council departments and organising events, managing projects, undertaking surveys and preparing promotional material in an attempt to rally support for the dunes.

The position is initially for one year, but if the action plan is successful it is possible that she will become a long term fixture to oversee its implementation.

Councillor Simon Renwick, Cabinet Member for Culture and Tourism, said: “The sand dunes are a very popular area of beach land with both our residents and visitors.

"However, if we are not careful they will suffer the same fate of so much of our landscape and will be eroded and lost forever.

"They are an asset the borough cannot afford to lose and need to be retained for future generations to enjoy.

“This officer’s job is to help ensure this doesn’t happen and when she is armed with the conservation action plan she will be able to get stuck in to returning our landscape to the way nature intended it to be.”