OWNERS of boats along a protected shoreline in Wirral will be given three months’ notice to contact Wirral Council or face seeing them cleared from the beach.

This follows a four year campaign by a councillor and local people over fears wrecked and rotting boats could harm an internationally protected area.

Wirral Council is preparing to take action to clear wrecks and other mess off the Heswall shoreline after people have dumped their boats there. Notices have gone up to alert people of plans to put a gate across the end of the access road to the beach as well as new CCTV cameras. 

After this, letters will be sent out, boats logged and identified, and notices will be placed on every boat on the shoreline giving owners three months to contact the local authority. Work will start to clear completely wrecked boats this year with the rest needing to be cleared gone from the shoreline by next year.

The work will be finished by September 2025 to avoid the threat of a fine from environmental regulator Natural England which oversees the protection of the Dee Estuary. The estuary is an internationally important wildlife habitat, particularly for birds nesting in the winter.

£100,000 of funding was agreed to clear the boats earlier this year and according to Heswall councillor Andrew Hodson, the worst boats higher up on the beach are expected to be cleared at the end of the summer. The local authority needs to get consent from a number of different organisations to move forward and will only work on the boats above the high water line for now.

Cllr Hodson said: “It’s a graveyard for wrecked boats. We are happy for people to use the beach to sail from but I don’t think people should be using it to dump their boats.

“It’s dangerous for children if they get inside. Old sharp engine parts and there is oil in there. That is one of the reasons why we have to wrap them before clearing them so they don’t harm the wildlife.

“Visually it will look better without all the wrecks and it looks attractive with the boats if they’re being used. It’s just where they are coming down and dumping boats.”

Asked why it had taken so long to get things moving, Cllr Hodson said: “It’s money and red tape. What stirred them into action is they were going to get fined if they didn’t do it.”

He added: “I have been hounded about this for many years by local residents. Usually people who come to visit the area, they say what a shame the beach has been left with the wrecks on it. We had to do something about it and if we do not do something about it, then Natural England will fine us for it."