Studland Beach-Users’
Action Group (SBUAG)
A Sub-Committee of the Purbeck
Community Safety Action Group,
established under the Crime and
Disorder Partnership for Dorset
Wording agreed at SBUAG meeting on
Thursday 11th January 2007
NATURISTS UNITE TO RECLAIM THE STUDLAND NUDIST BEACH!
Naturist beach-users at
Studland Beach in Dorset are working in partnership with police, the National
Trust, and Purbeck District Council to clamp down on offensive and illegal
sexual behaviour which is ruining their enjoyment of the beach.
Naturists from Studland
United Nudists, Castaways, and British Naturism, want to encourage all
naturists to report any sexual activity they see on the beach or in the dunes,
and they want to reassure beach-users that the National Trust wardens and the
local police have promised swift action.
Already the police are using
penalty notices and warning letters as well as prosecuting offenders, and the
National Trust has its own sanctions such as banning orders which it is using
to try to clear the beach of perverts.
Some years ago many
naturists felt unable to trust the motives of police patrolling Studland Beach. However, several years of productive
meetings, first under the auspices of the National Trust and more recently as
part of the Studland Beach Users’ Action Group (a sub-committee of the Purbeck
Community Safety Action Group) have reassured the naturists that the police,
the parish council and the District Council recognise the difference between
law-abiding naturists wanting to relax and enjoy the beach, and people visiting
Studland because they wrongly assume that the presence of a naturist beach
means that they can abuse the location by stripping off solely for sexual
purposes.
Now the naturist groups that
are part of the Action Group are calling on all genuine naturists to help by
reporting ALL offences promptly, and co-operating fully by giving witness
statements. Many of the Studland Beach offenders
are regulars but get away with it because people don’t want to see a complaint
right through.
One of the naturists
attending the group, Tamara Essex from Dorset, said, “We want naturists to report obscene activities immediately, not just
sit there feeling uncomfortable or deciding not to use Studland any more. It’s a fantastic beach and it’s time genuine naturists reclaimed
it back from the pervs who hang around the beach and the dunes spoiling our
day.” She emphasised that the
police and the NT wardens had promised they would respond quickly to any calls,
and that 2007 would see a stepping up of overt and covert police presence on
the beach to stamp out crime on Studland Beach.