SEDGEMOOR District Council (SDC) will take over the management of Brean Beach and provide the parish council with a £10,000 grant to allow refurbishment at the village hall.

The district council will also invest £75,000 in the area which will also include the take over of the management of Brean Beach from April 2022.

The project will also focus on staffing, equipment, signage, and beach cleaning.

The £10,000 grant will be used for the refurbishment of their closed toilet block at Brean Village Hall. SDC will also work with the parish council to help clean their toilet bock, once it has been reopened.

Brean Parish Council formally asked SDC to consider their proposal for SDC to manage beach operations at their meeting in July and agreed on the transfer at their December meeting. Their request was based on an RNLI safety audit at the beach in February 2021, which identified actions that Brean Parish Council should make to its operations to improve safety at the beach, including better signage, equipment, and staff levels. The parish council felt they were unable to meet some of these RNLI recommendations, due to their limited capacity as volunteers.

Additionally, due to record numbers of visitors during the past two seasons, a knock-on effect from Covid restrictions, including people taking ‘staycations’ - there have been concerns from Brean residents about some anti-social behaviour from visitors. Sedgemoor District Council will propose to operate the beach, based on the experience and expertise of Sedgemoor’s beach safety and resort staff who manage Burnham-on-Sea and Berrow beaches, supported by the RNLI at peak season. This will involve taking a proactive approach to general beach management and monitoring and intervention in safety issues. SDC has been working with Brean Parish Council, local businesses and residents, ward and local councillors, and Discover Brean, and would like to thank them for their input into a getting a positive solution to the challenges at Brean. Specific areas of operation: Beach Safety Wardens: Similar to Burnham-on-Sea and Berrow beaches, who are on consistent and regular rotas to be on-hand for any safety issues, as well as managing the on-beach parking, taking into account tidal and weather conditions.

RNLI Lifeguards: In the high summer season (July- Sept) Beach Safety Wardens will be supported by an RNLI lifeguard Team in monitoring and proactively intervening in safety issues or unsafe behaviour. Beach Cleaning: All beach cleansing activities to be undertaken by Sedgemoor District Council including litter picking bin emptying and general cleansing.

Safety Signage: Sedgemoor District Council will install beach safety signage as detailed in the RNLI audit to relevant best practice standards.

Concessions: Sedgemoor will take over the letting of and management of concessions allowing concessions to bid to operate on the beach such as ice cream vendors etc.

End of season review meeting: At the end of each season Sedgemoor District Council will organise a meeting with residents to discuss how the season has gone and any issues that have arisen. This is in addition to the ability for residents to discuss with on-site beach staff immediately should any issues arise.

Toilet provision: SDC will also open, clean, and maintain the toilet block by the access ramp at Brean and will consider the use of mobile toilet units at peak times.