Decision details

The Cabinet Member for Environment, Heritage and Waste Management explained that the strategy was a result of an internal audit report into the processes and procedures in place to manage water safety. The RNLI had offered to carry out and audit of the council’s beaches at no cost to the council. It was reported that there had been incidents with jet skis and swimmers and it would be desirable  if funding could be agreed, for the marker buoys, which had previously been removed, to be reinstated prior to the RNLI’s audit. It was explained that the framework provided a list of all activities with an action plan for the future to improve the beach environment. Clarification was provided that the bathing season is usually considered to be 1 May to 30 September each year.

The Corporate Scrutiny Committee had noted the recommendations in the report.

To adopt options 1 and 4 and to agree: -

Option 1 – Adopt the draft beach management strategic framework attached at appendix 1, including the action plan for beach safety, and produce/publish the final plan.

Option 4 – Investigate the provision of marker buoys in advance of the RNLI safety audits subject to funding being agreed in the 2021/22 Medium Term Financial plan.