13
Feb
Fight ‘em on the beaches
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) today criticised Whitehall proposals to tackle the thousands of tonnes of waste littering beaches in England and Wales, but welcomed the plans from the Scottish Government.
Last week, the Governments closed their consultations on introducing the revised European Bathing Water Directive, due to become UK law on March 24th.
Each Government has put forward its vision of how it intends to combat pollution on beaches and reduce the associated public health risk through plastic, tar, glass, rubber and all sorts of other waste on beaches
The Scottish Government have proposed very comprehensive measures, but, Whitehall only a minimum approach, with periodic visual inspections of English and Welsh beaches, unspecified ‘management measures’ if waste debris reaches ‘abnormal’ levels, and more public information.
Thomas Bell, MCS, said ‘Frankly, we think the UK Government’s proposals to tackle waste on beaches in England and Wales are shameful. The leadership to clean up the British coastline is clearly coming from Scotland.’
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