Council 'left high and dry' over seaweed problem

Thousands of tonnes of seaweed have been washed up on a beach near Margate - but the council does not have permission to get rid of it.

Masses of seaweed has built up at Minnis Bay over the past few days, but due to a recent change in waste management licensing laws Thanet District Council is not allowed to transport it anywhere.

Andrew Ogden of the Environment Agency said that since April 2006, when the new legislation came into effect, local authorities are not able to apply for an exemption, which would previously have let them dispose of seaweed in areas such as nearby farmland.

Instead councils must now treat the seaweed at a cost of thousands of pounds before this can be done.

Mr Ogden said: "Because of the nature of the coastline around Margate there is unfortunately an awful lot of seaweed that gets washed up.

"Thanet District Council has a lot of coastline and 10 blue flag beaches and the public wants to use these beaches so we do understand the situation."

He added that at the moment the council is only allowed to move the build-up of seaweed to another area of the beach and wait for it to be washed back out to sea again, but due to reefs protected by the European Habitats Directive they are limited as to where it can go.

Councillor Shirley Tomlinson, Thanet District Council cabinet member for commercial and environmental services, said: "We're experiencing the highest levels of seaweed that we've seen in the last 20 years at Minnis Bay, so this amount of seaweed is certainly not usual for our area.

"The council is responding and has two machines currently down at the beach, moving it out to sea and we are trying to keep the high tide area as free from seaweed as we can. However, at this stage of the season, we cannot legally move it anywhere."

Mr Ogden said the Environment Agency would be working with Thanet District Council to find a long-term solution to the problem.