Group considers legal action against council over introduction of beach metal detecting ban
North-East Lincolnshire Council has introduced a ban with the threat of £100 fines for anyone using a metal detector in the Cleethorpes beach area, a move which the National Council for Metal Detecting (NCMD) wants to overturn.
The NCMD has revealed it is considering taking legal action against the council.
Speaking to The Guardian, the group’s general secretary, Alan Tamblyn, said the council’s actions were “very misguided and very ill-judged and can’t be justified”.
He added: “We are certainly considering challenging this in the High Court. […] If they came up with a reason for doing this we’d accept it, but they haven’t.”
The council said it is currently not commenting on this issue, but told Local Government Lawyer it has “important conversations to have within the next couple of days”, and revealed that it is “actively talking to the NCMD as well as other official bodies to clarify the whole issue.”
A group have also started a petition against the council’s ban on metal detectors, which currently has 2,336 signatures.
On their page, they said they individually contacted the council and MP, in which a North East Lincolnshire council spokesperson responded that it is "illegal" to use metal detectors on Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).
The council spokesperson said: “This is to prevent people from damaging or disturbing the habitat and wildlife. The Cleethorpes coastline is an internationally important habitat for wildlife and sits in the Humber Estuary SSSI.”
Responding to this, the group wrote on their petition page: “What we cannot understand is why the council have said that the ban is because the beach is an SSSI area and the ban is to protect the natural habitats of nature, however […] there are still families and children digging the biggest holes on the beach and not even filling them back in, when all detectorists fill in the holes they dig.”
The NCMD has been approached for comment.
Lottie Winson
