February 4th 2023
I'm pleased to say that Torbay Council plans to put in place Public Space Protection Orders (PSPO’s) at Berry Head and Hope’s Nose before the start of the mackerel season in May.
These orders will allow responsible fishing to occur but will tackle the unacceptable levels of anti-social behaviour that have happened at both locations in recent years.
Last summer Leader of Torbay Council, Councillor Steve Darling, and I attended a community partnership meeting in Brixham where this was debated at some length.
"Since then, we have consulted with key stakeholders in the area and identified this approach as the best short-term measure in tackling this issue on both Berry Head Quarry and Hope’s Nose," said Steve.
"We will continue to put pressure on the Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities who need to step up to the mark to tackle the inappropriate fishing that occurs at these locations.”
Councillor Mike Morey, Cabinet Member for Infrastructure, Environment and Culture said, “A public spaces protection order has previously been deployed at Hope’s Nose, with good success. By twin tracking such orders at both beauty spots in Torbay we hope to tackle this over this summer.
"Within this PSPO we plan to add an additional clause which will prevent the removal of minerals from the site and also to make it clear that if problems persist this summer, we may have to escalate the powers of the PSPO.
“There needs to be appropriate levels of enforcement to ensure this PSPO has the impact that we all desire and we will be working on this over the next few weeks.”
We recently visited the quarry area along with Councillor Jackie Stockman and spoke at length to Ian Chatterton who was spent a huge amount of time clearing up mess left behind by the fishers.
We hope the PSPOs will be the first step in addressing the impact of this fishing which has been damaging to the environment around Berry Head and intimidating to l
Above : Torbay Council leader Steve Darling, Brixham councillors Jackie Stockman and Mike Morey
Left : Caroline with Torbay Council leader Steve Darling