Not posted for about 6 months, anyway, after a discussion the other day I thought I'd send an e-mail to Pembrokeshire County Council in an attempt to get a definitive answer on the legality of the removal of sand from a beach. Sad? Without a shadow of a doubt.
To whom it may concern,
Today I have been having a discussion with a friend of mine on the legality of taking sand from any given beach for personal use (her boyfriend has one of those 'slam man' boxing things which needed to be filled with 90 kilos of sand). When having this discussion I jokingly suggested that instead of paying £4 for 15 kilos from B&Q (which, incidentally, they did), they could have filled the slam man for free, using sand from a beach.
As we delved into the possibility of hypothetically taking sand from a beach (once again, we wouldn't), my thought was that - although it was my (in jest) suggestion in the first place - this act would in fact be breaking the law. The girl with whom I was having the discussion with thought otherwise, stating "surely it can't be a criminal offence to take sand from a natural beach" reasoning that "natural beaches have sand which is made from crushed rocks and stuff over millions of years so it doesn't really belong to anyone." My counter argument was that, natural or not, the sand would be owned by someone and removing it from its natural location without permission would be unlawful, in the way that taking soil from what may look like unused land would too be classed as theft.
As I have previously mentioned, neither of us intend to take sand from its natural place to use for personal gain and even if we did, Pembrokeshire would be a little too far away considering neither of us reside in that county. However, if you could provide a definitive answer on whether taking sand from a beach is actually classed as theft and if so, who it would be stealing from, then I would be very appreciative. Thank you for taking the time to read and (hopefully) replying and I apologise for any time that may have been wasted.
Yours Faithfully
Gavin
