Crow Point and Greencliff beaches have benefited from a community beach clean thanks to generous funding from Tesco’s Bags of Help fund. Reducing plastic bag use by charging for them in Tesco stores has provided funding to support beach cleans across North Devon and Torridge. These are being led by Cat Oliver, the newly appointed ‘Coastal Creatures’ education officer in the North Devon Coast AONB team.

Supporting the beach clean on the day were two Tesco representatives, Laura Collins from the Barnstaple store who presented the £12,000 cheque to the AONB, and Wendy Edwards the Tesco community champion for Bideford with some of her community volunteers. As well as local families who braved the wet and windy weather to clean their beaches, members of Coastwise North Devon supported the two sessions to remove plastics and other waste that could harm both people and the special wildlife along North Devon’s protected coasts.

“At Crow Point we collected 18 bin bags of rubbish including fishing litter, dog waste bags and a large metal waste bin and at Greencliff we collected 25 bin bags including part of a boat and storm damaged fishing equipment,” said Cat Oliver. “Most of the litter has been washed in from the sea following the stormy weather of the last few weeks. The AONB and our community partners recognise the importance of the beaches for both tourism and wildlife across North Devon.”

If you need help to clean your local beach or want to join the AONB team for some “extreme beach cleans” in some of the more remote locations, get in touch with Cat Oliver on 01271 388893.