Part of the Cleethorpes beach is permanently open to bait digging and part reserved under local authority byelaw for other beach users. Bait diggers have complained to the local Council that the habitat in the area used by bait diggers and bait stocks there are inferior to those in the closed area of the beach. They asked for the zonation to be discontinued so that they have access to the whole beach. The Council, however, was advised that the reason for this difference in beach quality is purely due to the activity of bait collectors, and that opening the whole beach to baitdigging would simply cause the problem of habitat damage to be extended to the whole of the recreational area.

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