There’s an appeal for people not to take pebbles from the beach at Rossall.

A local campaign group say there’s been an increase in the number of people taking them to use in their gardens, not realising they’re a natural sea defence.



The Rossall Beach Residents and Community Group has teamed up with children from Manor Beach School to explain more in this video:



The group said: ''Along with equipment and plants appearing in the shops, Rossall Beach Residents and Community Group are celebrating the start of the gardening season by reminding people not to take the pebbles off the beach to use in their horticultural displays, but to buy them from an approved source instead.

''The community group look after the northern stretch of pebble beach at Cleveleys and have enlisted the help of the children of nearby Manor Beach School to produce a little video clip that explains why people are asked not to take the pebbles home with them.

Jane Littlewood, Chair of the charity explained more: “A high beach is one of the best forms of sea defence that there is – the porosity of the beach material absorbs the energy of the sea and stops big high waves from forming which could otherwise come over the sea wall.

''The children of Manor Beach School came to the beach and were filmed demonstrating, by using buckets of water, how waves bounce into the air when they hit a wall, compared to how their energy is dissipated when reaching the porous beach.

''The sea wall where people love to park their cars on Rossall Promenade to watch over the beach is very low, so it’s important that the beach is maintained as a good sea defence. The promenade is on a bit of a higher crest, but the streets heading back towards the tram tracks are below sea level – and they are the ones who would potentially suffer if a flood event were to happen, as they did in the 1 in 200 year storm in 2013.”

Jane added “It’s not a question of being small minded and worrying about a few pebbles. If everyone who came to this popular spot filled their car boot to the point that the axle was ready for breaking there would just be no pebbles left here and a lot of homes could be put at risk.”

“The Rossall Beach Group want everyone to be able to enjoy the beautiful beach which all of our volunteers work hard to look after for everyone’s enjoyment.”