'Desecration' of Welsh beauty spot leaves people in despair

A councillor who lays flowers on the Anglesey beach each year fears the ‘unauthorised’ work could open up other coastal areas to potential development

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Isallt Fawr headland viewed from Porth y Post beach, near Trearddur Bay, Anglesey

COASTAL community is in uproar over “unauthorised” work being carried out on a scenic headland rich in wildlife.

Photos show new tracks being created through gorse and heather using tonnes of shingle allegedly scooped from a nearby beach.

The work began soon after Isallt Fawr headland, near Trearddur Bay on Holy Island, was sold as “commercial” land this summer.

As the 5.75-acre site was marketed as a “potential development opportunity,’ local people fear the work will be further expanded, claiming it amounts to the effective “privatisation” of a much-loved coastal beauty spot.

Diggers have been pictured on the adjacent Porth y Corwgl beach and the work includes changes to a public footpath used by generations of locals to access the cove.

Isallt Fawr, adjacent to Porth y Post beach, lies in Anglesey’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

The local authority confirmed no planning consent was sought or granted for the work, and has pledged to carry out “further inspections” The council would not confirm the identity of the developer.

The footpath, following an historic cart track, has been stripped of its surrounding vegetation. It was used to access the beach and some years ago formalised as a public footpath,

Among those incensed by the development is county councillor Pip O'Neill, who claimed the work had “desecrated” Anglesey's Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Cllr O'Neill, who represents the neighbouring Tref Cybi ward, has personal reasons for taking an interest, as each year he lays flowers on the beach in memory of his late father, a commercial fisherman, who lost his life in an accident nearby three decades ago.

On November 13, 1995, his dad died when trying to extricate a colleague's nets that had become snagged on rocks at Isallt Fawr.