The Friends of Berrow Beach has held its first beach clean since the Spring on Saturday after being given a boost by a local environmental group.
The organisation ‘Surfers Against Sewage’ has provided the Berrow group with public liability insurance to allow its beach cleans to resume. They were suspended when Somerset Council made the decision earlier this year to withdraw Public Liability Insurance from the group without warning.
The council said “regrettably it has been discovered that Somerset Council’s current Public Liability Insurance policy does not allow for groups such as the Friends of Berrow Beach to be added to it. We have raised the issue with the Insurance Department, but unfortunately, we are unable to offer Public Liability Insurance to the group. This was not a financial or cost saving decision and is very disappointing for us all.”
The Berrow beach cleaning group received support from Burnham-On-Sea’s MP Ashley Fox and Cllr Tony Grimes, plus local residents.
Now, a Friends of Berrow Beach spokesman says: “A big thank you to Surfers Against Sewage, who have kindly helped us out by providing us with temporary public liability insurance so we can hold our August beach clean.”
“Furthermore, they are happy to continue providing this insurance until a more permanent solution is found. In the meantime, the team at Friends of Berrow Beach would like to sincerely thank all those who supported us after our public liability insurance was withdrawn without notice by Somerset Council early in June.”
“In particular, our local councillor, Tony Grimes, had several meetings with senior Council officials, in an effort to get them to reverse their decision – unfortunately, to no avail. Also, our newly elected MP, Ashley Fox took time out to meet with us and also promised to lobby the Council on our behalf.”
“Many other individuals have offered their help and advice, for which we are extremely grateful. We are now very optimistic that we will be able to continue our beach cleans and would love to see a huge turnout for the clean – so please join us, come rain or shine!”
