Visitors to dog-friendly Sizewell beach to benefit from year-long free parking thanks to Sizewell C-funded trial

Visitors to a well-loved dog-friendly beach in Suffolk will benefit from free parking for a year as part of a new trial.

The scheme, funded by Sizewell C, aims to encourage year-round use of Sizewell beach and in turn relieve pressure at more sensitive areas such as Dunwich beach and RSPB Minsmere.

The project, at Sizewell beach car park, began yesterday and it is hoped it will also benefit residents by reducing informal roadside parking in the lead up to the beach.

Dogs are allowed on Sizewell’s shingle beach throughout the year, both on and off-lead.

Pat Hogan has lived on the Sizewell Gap road leading to the car park for 50 years, said while the growth in the use of the beach in the last few years was ‘lovely’, it had brought problems with on-street parking.

“This [scheme] is very good news,” he said. “The most hazardous area is probably when cars are parked opposite The Vulcan and when cars park in the turning point in front of the café which means other traffic cannot use it as a passing place.

“If the car park is free, hopefully, people will use it more fully and not use these awkward areas to park.”

Mr Hogan added he was very glad the overnight parking rule would still be enforced.

New wardening will support the monitoring of the car park.

Large areas of the Suffolk coast have the highest level of protection from the UK Government for their nature conservation interest. Sizewell Beach does not have this and so the aim of the Sizewell C Ecology Working Group is to ensure visitors keep using the less-sensitive beaches.

Russell Clement, National Trust general manager for the Suffolk and Essex Coast, said: “The National Trust is supportive of these measures which will encourage the use of less ecologically sensitive areas, especially for those wanting to walk dogs off leads.

“In turn, this will help to spread visitors across this highly designated landscape, places like Dunwich Heath, where we ask visitors to be more mindful on their visit to protect the rare and vulnerable wildlife found here.”

A particular aim of the plan is to reduce disturbance to ground nesting birds of the heathlands and trampling damage to the most important areas of vegetated shingle.