The next stage in the development of a new Beach Management Plan for Hoylake Beach is approaching with the launch of an initial public consultation exercise.

This six-week consultation process will begin on Wednesday 29th June 2022 and run until Wednesday 10th August.

Residents and stakeholders will be asked to complete a questionnaire that will seek to find out how people use and view the beach currently and get their comments on how it should be best managed in the future.

An independent Ecology and Geomorphology survey, carried out last summer and published earlier this year, sets out how Hoylake Beach could change - in terms of beach levels and habitat development - over the next 50 years as a result of natural coastal processes and the effects of sea level rise resulting from climate change. 

The findings of this report, as well as a discretionary advice document from Natural England and other relevant information that will help inform the consultation exercise, can be found – alongside the online questionnaire that people will be asked to complete – on the council's consultation website, haveyoursay.wirral.gov.uk

As well as the online information, residents and stakeholders will also have an opportunity to speak with officers in person to get some background information and have any questions answered about the process of developing the new Beach Management Plan.

These events will take place at Hoylake Community Centre on:-

• Tuesday 12th July - 11am-7pm
• Wednesday 13th July - 11am-7pm
• Thursday 14th July - 11am-7pm
• Friday 15th July - 11am- 7pm

Though the council will be encouraging as many people as possible to complete the questionnaire online at haveyoursay.wirral.gov.uk there will be paper copies made available to those who request it. There will also be an Easy Read version of the questionnaire available. The link to book onto one of the sessions listed above will also be on the consultation web page.

The findings of this consultation will assist in the development of the objectives and a range of options for the long-term, sustainable future management of Hoylake Beach. There will be further consultation on a short list of options before councillors agree the preferred Beach Management Plan for Hoylake Beach.. 

The plan will be subject to a Habitat Regulations Assessment (HRA). In order for it to receive assent from Natural England, the management activities considered in the HRA need to align with Natural England's nature conservation objectives for North Wirral Foreshore Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).