An environmental concern sparked a multi-agency response to a beach in Bembridge yesterday evening (Tuesday).
Officers from Hampshire Constabulary attended the scene at Point Beach at around 17:00 after receiving reports of members of the public constructing a bonfire with what appeared to be waste wood.
One eyewitness told Island Echo that around 10 car loads of wood had been deposited on the beach throughout the afternoon.
Bembridge Coastguard Rescue Team was tasked to assist the police due to the location of the pyre, with an appliance from the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service also attending to provide cover in the event that the fire was lit.
A Duty Counter Pollution Officer and Environmental Health specialist were also contacted.
Eventually, the pyre was reportedly deconstructed.
A HM Coastguard spokesperson said:
“Burning of unlicensed waste on our beaches will be challenged and enforcement used if necessary.”
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Elsewhere in the evening, reports of yet more people attempting to walk to St Helen’s Fort at low tide prompted Coastguards to give words of advice.
No Vallhalla for that old boat, what a bunch of killjoys, not allowed fires on the beach now?? probably a covid risk..it did have a multi agency response..
Get your head out of your arse. The climate change is out of control, bonfires like this are a luxury we can no longer afford. Just like burning garden waste. If we don’t do our bit it’s game over.
Exactly, Some people care more about getting their own way though than about doing anything to help the environment. People complaining nonstop about a few plants growing by the wayside, people lighting bonfires, Certain house chimneys belching out copious amounts of smoke, making asthma worse. The effects of all this is just adding to the climate change problem we all face.
You stupid or what? A bonfire compared to a coal fired power station…….
i would ignore fred on this one – he seems to have forgotten that he probably emits more crap from his car each day than any beach bonfire and also – i guess he forgets the amount of mining that takes place in africa, that destroys the environment to get the metals that are needed to make sure his mobile phone can actually exist, or the computer and monitor he uses it at home works. Not to mention all the copper that gets dug up in mining, for the copper wire that is used to give internet to a lot of houses. Just saying!
The beach is a place of pleasure for all, not a rubbish tip.
You are not allowed to fart in public on this island without an army of busy bodies telling you what you can or can not do, this is not a free country no more,so many people poking there noses in where it is not wanted, bonfire on the beach,big f’in deal. Just because you don’t have a life, you stop other people having one! Utter disgrace!
Okay Mr Free Spirit send the council your details so they can bill you for the clean up
Check out all the freedom haters, they can stay indoors when we have a bonnie on the beach, these idiots have forced the island to lose its identity..
Could not agree more mate, getting more like north Korea every day here,these numptys would not last long in northern island.still at least we still have bonfire night,oh no,that is not allowed now either,unless you have a licence from the council. It would be funny if it was not so serious, civil liberties and human rights work both ways. X
Do you have a job? Do you work and pay taxes? Council Tax? Who do you think cleans up all the shi* that’s left on our beaches, not the ‘beach fairies’ that’s for sure. It would take council tax funds to clean up the mess left from having a fire. People can’t go around lighting fires just because they want to.
Hear hear!!!! A glorious fire on a summer evening to be shared with friends and family! World has gone mad……IOW seems to be crammed full of over sensitive weirdos! Get a life
Blimey what a world we live in the anti fun police out in force .We had fires all the time when we were kids on the beach,
Probably back then it was few sticks but that is not just wood there’s plastic, glass and metal fittings amonst it. I’m very sure those responsible would not clean up after them leaving a hazzard behind for others
There’s a bit of a difference between having a campfire on the beach and burning the amount of rubbish shown in the photo. They should be fined for fly tipping as probably it wouldn’t have all been burnt, whatever I’m sure there would have been a mess left for someone to clear up.
I can’t believe the idiots that think
Yes screws and rusty nails left behind
Its 2021 so they’re probably just waiting for the paperwork to be completed before they can light it .. I’m sure once the risk assessment and the insurance assessments are completed we’ll be good to go.. lol
There’s fires and stupid large fires which shouldn’t be aloud take it to the tip lazy People
Jeeeeezus you lot need to get a sense of humour..lighten up and stop taking everything so seriously..
“lighten up” I like it.
Oh come on Island Echo! Only 4 comments showing out of 8! For goodness’ sake, stop this censorship that is going on here these days. I saw nothing in any of those comments that have been removed that warranted removal. What the Hell is happening here to cause this?
Editor’s note: Thanks for your comment. You’ll be pleased to know that there really is not a conspiracy against those using our comments section. We currently have around 70,000 comments on stories on our website, with hundreds added each day. As we have previously confirmed, some of these comments are automatically filtered and must be approved manually – thus appearing somewhat later than the time they were written.
For your info, out of the 74,000 comments posted, less than 4,000 have ever been removed or deleted. That said, we do moderate comments that contain offensive language or extreme views at our discretion and we will continue to do so – as is our right. We welcome as many opinions in our comments section as possible and it is rare for us to manually remove a comment.
Thank you for reply, well the missing comments are back now. I have definitely seen comments removed though that contained no offensive language, so maybe a glitch somewhere that causes it?
Surprised to see mine or one of them is back up , I’m amazed at the comments, no sense of humour at all, old boats are always burnt or were..there was one up players beach a couple of months ago, new dump rules makes disposal impossible, this is wood, you have your fire, share a few memorys over a drink then collect the metal bits in the morning, take them to the dump, burning it is the greenest thing you could do as nobody questions what the dump is going to do with it, painted wood.
lol ..its been deleted again..
Yes, it states 20 comments, but only 12 are currently showing. Definitely something wrong here. Please sort it out Island Echo. This site used to be so good before all this constant deleting started happening.
That’s BBQs banned then!