Ramsey Commissioners to look at cleaning seaweed off beach

Ramsey Commissioners has agreed to look into cleaning seaweed off its beach.

The local authority has had complaints from sea swimmers, who say that after easterly winds it washes onto the shore and starts to smell.

Potential costs for the work, if done by staff could add up to just over £8000 if it was cleaned for 19 weeks of the year - it’s not known how much it would cost to dispose the seaweed.

Lead member for works and development Steve Kelly says the authority is waiting for feedback from the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture and the Manx Wildlife Trust:

A report to the commissioners says an initial clean using a machine would cost between £1000 and £1500 during March before nesting bird season starts.

It adds that doing the clean manually takes away the staff and resources from other areas at a ‘critical’ time - including weeding and grass cutting.