A FAMOUS beach beloved by children’s author Enid Blyton has been closed after decades-old rubbish spilled onto the sands and turned it into an “eyesore”
The National Trust removed sea defences from the beauty spot and exposed it to decades-old rubbish from an old dump.
The trust said this was part of a “managed retreat” policy at Middle Beach in Studland, Dorset which allowed “nature to take its course”.
Engineers removed the defences in September which accelerated coastal erosion and exposed an old rubbish dump which was buried in the sands.
Tons of rubbish has since washed onto the beloved beach including lethal asbestos sheeting which could be a threat to environmental health.
Amongst the rubbish was a newly-unearthed Victorian toilet block filled to the brim with decades-old rusty metal, glass and plastic.
The beach has closed for safety reasons while volunteers from the National Trust tackle the hoard of waste with daily clean-up operations.
Middle beach was reportedly a favourite of beloved children’s author Enid Blyton.
The Famous Five writer stayed at a nearby hotel while on holiday, and Studland was even an inspiration for ToyTown in Noddy.
The removal of the sea defences has attracted criticism.
Nick Boulter, chairman of Studland Parish Council, said: “It’s horrible. All that waste which has been dumped into the sandy bank for the past 50 to 100 years is coming out of the cliff, creating an eyesore.
“I’ve heard that the poor National Trust volunteers are down there every day filling 10 bags of plastic waste.
“For £100,000 to £200,000, we told them they could have replaced the gabions.
“We warned them that if they didn’t, then this rubbish would reappear.
“Now, when you go down to the beach there are warning signs saying it is ‘dangerous’.
“The worrying thing is we’ve not had any bad storms yet so it could get much worse.”
This dump disaster comes after after the heritage organisation tore down Britain’s oldest beach café – also said to be frequented by Blyton – in Studland in 2023.
The trust said the iconic building perched on top of a small cliff was at risk of tumbling into the sea, despite it being 60ft from the edge.
Locals were outraged that the popular spot was demolished.
Andrew Parsons, a local resident and a civil engineer, said: “It is absolutely appalling. I don’t know what their agenda is. It’s not what they are supposed to be doing.
“If it was a building site and this waste was unearthed Environmental Health would come down on them like a ton of bricks.
“The National Trust are doing this stupid process of returning it to nature when they should be preserving buildings like the old café.
“Anybody could have seen this would happen and they have shown an incredible lack of foresight.
“The sea defences would have stopped this from happening for decades.
“This is what people are paying their National Trust subscriptions for.”
The trust responded by saying that the sea defences would not have stood up to rising tides anyway and could have collapsed.
Sarah Coggins, the National Trust’s coast & marine adviser, previously said: “Holding the cliff in place with a hard structure like gabion baskets means that the shoreline is not naturally aligned with the coast.
“Removing the artificial structures will allow the beach to replenish itself using sandy material from the cliff.
“Over time, it’s predicted that this will result in the formation of a sandy cove, with more beach for people to enjoy.
“The effects might look extreme at first, but projections show that over the next 20 years or so the cliff will realign to become a gentler slope.”
Tracey Churcher, National Trust general manager for Purbeck, said: “We had a specialist contractor remove some asbestos sheeting early on in the process, and are continuing to undertake daily cleaning of the beach to remove rubbish.
“The plan is to assess the situation after the end of the winter storms – let winter do its thing – and then see what more we need to remove of the rubble and what can safely stay.
“In the meantime, we’re keeping Middle Beach closed for safety.
“There are items being revealed by the erosion, which may be unexpected, like sharp glass and jagged bits of rusty metal.
“We don’t want anyone including children or dogs, to hurt themselves.”
When asked about the potential environmental health risk, a spokesperson for Dorset Council said: “This is on private National Trust owned land, so you would need to speak to them in the first instance.”
