Two-minute clean to help our coast

LOVEmyBEACH launch their '2 Minute Beach Clean' scheme at Fleetwood Beach Kiosk. Pictured is Emma Whitlock from LOVEmyBEACH with Craig McOmish and Wyre mayor Terry Lees with volunteers from the Wyre Countryside Service.

That’s what beach clean campaigners are asking residents after launching the North West’s first #2minutebeachclean boards in Fleetwood.

The boards are designed to encourage anyone and everyone to participate in keeping the beach clean, even for just two minutes.

Despite Wyre Council and a team of over 75 volunteers working hard to clean the beaches, the volume of litter left by visitors and washed up with the tide means there is always something alien to find.

LOVEmyBEACH – a North West campaign working to improve beaches and bathing waters – bought the boards, with the first two being placed at Rossall Point and next to Fleetwood Beach Kiosk.

More boards are planned across the North West coast.

Emma Whitlock, LOVEmyBEACH officer, said: “We’re really excited to introduce the first two minute beach clean board here in Fleetwood.

“Created in Cornwall, this is the furthest North the boards have come so far.”

Wyre mayor Coun Terry Lees officially welcomed the boards at a launch event and said the boards were a fantastic method of community engagement.

Turning Tides is the partnership of organisations behind the LOVEmyBEACH campaign.

Emma added: “The North West beaches and seas are the cleanest they’ve been in over 20 years and the boards, and the people who use them, will contribute to maintaining these standards.

“There’s plenty more that can be done though, including behaviours at home like pouring the right things down the drain or not flushing anything but pee, poo and paper down the toilet.

“It’s the little things that make a big difference.

“So every little really does help, even if it’s just for two minutes.”