Carlyon Bay Watch was formed to try to preserve for the use of local people and visitors alike three beaches at Carlyon Bay, near St Austell on the south coast of Cornwall, which are earmarked for a huge development of over 500 holiday dwellings. This photo shows the three beaches, Crinnis, Shorthorn and Polgaver, as they looked before clearing work began on the site.  Plans for a massive sea-defence scheme to protect the development have already been rejected by the government after a Public Inquiry and a long campaign spear-headed by Carlyon Bay Watch together with objections from Cornwall County Council and the Environment Agency as well as other organisations.

But the fight is by no means over.  The developers, Ampersand, have gone to appeal, claiming that the Government Inspector and the Secretary of State were complete idiots to turn down the plans.  That appeal was due to be heard on 1st December 2008 at the High Court in London but it has now been delayed until 2009.  In the meantime we are left with the eyesore that is the wreckage of the old Coliseum building, with piles of rubble along the beaches and with an illegal and ugly line of rusting steel shuttering - erected without planning permission as part of the rejected sea defence scheme.  Ampersand has been ordered to remove the shuttering by the local authority, Restormel Borough Council, but was given three years to do so and now has appealed against that order as well.  (Go to our What's New page for more detail on this and for Carlyon Bay Watch's response.)

Carlyon Bay now. 

As this photo shows, the shuttering and the line of massive boulders dumped in front of it mean it is impossible to walk the length of the beach at high tide.  Before Ampersand began work, members of the public were able to walk along the beach whatever the state of the tide and through woodland at the rear - much of which has now been destroyed.  (A local man's memories of cycling down to Crinnis, an old map showing the original track down to the beach and the unresolved issues of footpaths are on our public access page). 

This postcard from the 1970s shows the whole beach being used with no need to worry about being cut off by the tide and with no menacing boulders and shuttering.

Carlyon Bay has been a popular resort since the early part of the 20th century.  During the 1930s the complex, later known as the Cornwall Coliseum, was built as a spa with splendid swimming pool - Edward and Mrs Simpson are reputed to have visited it. 

During the 1970s and 1980s, the Coliseum, with the addition of a Wimpey bar and nightclub, was a highly popular entertainment venue.  CBW has no objection to a new use for the derelict site - the only part of the Carlyon Bay beaches which can be described as 'brownfield'.

The sheer scale of the intended development, given planning permission 18 years ago, would spread concrete over two of the three beaches.  Buildings up to five storeys high would cover them down to the shoreline and up the cliffs at the rear, as well as a massive sea wall.  With growing awareness of climate change and predictions of steadily rising sea levels, Carlyon Bay Watch believes this ambitious scheme is madness. (Why there is a danger from flooding).  Proposals in 2005 to build a bigger sea defence scheme, which entailed artificially extending the beach area in front of the sea wall, needed new planning permission and after much hard work by Carlyon Bay Watch to raise public awareness of the various environmental and safety issues, the plans were 'called in' by the Government.  

During the five weeks of hearings in November and December 2006, Cornwall County Council and the Environment Agency joined Carlyon Bay Watch in arguing against the sea defence proposals.  The planning inspector subsequently reported that the scheme breached government policies on sustainable development, building in a coastal zone and on the undeveloped coastline of Cornwall.  He also said traffic generated by the planned beach recharge would cause "material residual harm to amenity and to some extend highway safety considerations".  (More on the Public Inquiry).  Ruth Kelly, who had replaced John Prescott as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Development, agreed with the inspector's recommendation and refused permission for the new sea defence scheme in June 2007.