West Wittering Estate urges visitors to be responsible as beach reopens

Only a limited number of visitors will be permitted at the popular beach each day, so that social distancing guidelines can be followed.

All visitors will have to pre-pay for parking using the app, JustPark, with the car park operating at just 20 per cent of its usual capacity.

Anyone without a pre-booked parking ticket should not visit the beach, as there is no other parking in the village.

James Crespi, Chief Operating Officer at West Wittering Estate, said: “It’s the only way we can control the numbers here at the beach.

“Obviously there is a very, very high demand.

“Our real key message is for people not to come if they don’t have a ticket. They will be turned away.

“There is no parking in the surrounding village.

“We feel we desperately need people to think twice before coming.”

The beach will welcome its first visitors today, with all parking slots already fully booked until Friday.

But Mr Crespi said: “The real test is whether people who haven’t booked stay away.

“We have gone to extensive efforts to get the message out there.

“It’s something we will keep under constant review.

“Obviously people need the beach after the last 12 weeks. We want people to use it responsibly.”

The estate has invested in messaging in newspapers, TV, radio and on social media to reach both local people and visitors from further afield – including Hampshire, Surrey and South London.

Mr Crespi said they had reached more than 200,000 people through messaging on Facebook alone.

Signs have also been put up on roads up to 10 miles away, warning visitors to turn back if they have not already pre-booked.

“That will continue over the coming months,” he said. “We want to implement a real behaviour change.”

Mr Crespi said it was likely the pre-paid system would continue in the future, with more daily visitors gradually being permitted as lockdown measures are further eased.

He said it would be ‘beneficial’ and ‘the right thing to do’ for everyone – from visitors, staff and villagers, as well as for the preservation of the estate itself.

“We would love to be able to roll this out for the future and spread the demand,” he said.

He said there were mixed views about the scheme among local residents, after the last couple of days saw between 300 and 400 cars coming into the village.

But Mr Crespi said hopefully the reopening of the car park would take the pressure off.

“Our biggest concern is doing this will push the problem elsewhere,” he said, adding: “It may be we have to go through a bit of pain to get the message across.”

He said the situation would be monitored daily and warned: “If we feel things aren’t working we may be forced to close the beach again.”

For more information on the new parking scheme, please visit westwitteringestate.co.uk.

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