The Environment Department issued the reminder after staff from Mini Me’s[CORR] children’s holiday club and crèche were spoken to by an officer earlier this week. The firm had taken a group of young children there to run on one of the larger dunes and play with a single sled.
Parents contacted the JEP to say that their children were told that ‘no one is allowed to run up and down’ the sand dunes ‘as it moves and ruins the sand’.
Tim Liddiard, senior countryside officer, said that the department’s aim was to encourage people to use the countryside and to make it accessible but he said sledging or sand-surfing was harmful to the environment.
The sand dunes, or Les Blanches Banques, is a Site of Special Interest situated inside Jersey’s National Park. According to the Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002 it is illegal to take part in any ‘activity which might injure or deface the site or a part of the site’. Offenders can be fined.
Sledging is said to be harmful because it moves sand and uproots plants, such as marram grass, which can affect areas of the ecosystem. Areas of fencing have been erected in places to allow the dunes to recover.
Mr Liddiard said: ‘What we do try to make people aware of is the impact of activities such as sand-surfing and how it might damage the environment. We do not want to discourage people from using the sand dunes, absolutely not. We ask people not to sledge or sand-surf in the area. There is no specific law against it but it is illegal to cause damage to the area.’
There are also concerns among the department that such activities can create ‘steep sides’ on the dunes that are liable to collapse which can be dangerous. Last year a 14-year-old boy died from injuries caused after a tunnel he was digging on a dune collapsed.
Mr Liddiard added: ‘Open sand areas are like an open wound. If you don’t heal it it gets bigger. Putting fencing up is like stitching a wound together.’
