ITS colossal, towering coastline was the secret star of detective drama Broadchurch.
But now, residents in the idyllic seaside town West Bay say it is being "forgotten" and left to pile up with rubbish, while idiot tourists risk their lives on its crumbling cliffs for souvenir photos.
The Dorset summer hotspot is battling a rat and seagull problem, a crumbling harbour wall, sky-high parking prices and stinking blocked drains.
Located on the Jurassic Coast, the beach and harbour became a tourist magnet after Olivia Colman and David Tennant filmed the popular crime drama there from 2013-2017.
Fans in their droves descended on the harbour town to visit the sandstone cliffs and the Jurassic Pier which featured in the gripping ITV show.
But six years after the last series aired, locals say West Bay is now strewn with litter and in need of a string of other work to make it more attractive to visitors.
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'Tired and tatty'
Local businessman Simon Myles runs his boat charter business from the harbour in the town, taking tourists out to sea for tours of the bay.
As head of the town’s Harbour Consultative Committee, he has raised the issue of the lack of bins and the ‘tired and tatty’ state of the seaside town with Dorset Council’s harbour committee.
Speaking to The Sun he said: “A number of people on the committee, including the harbour tradesperson’s rep, raised the issue of more bins being needed.
“We also need more signage to stop people feeding the seagulls, as we have a real problem with them, the same as a lot of coastal towns. If people feed them, it encourages them to attack people for food.
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“They’re scavengers by nature so if the bins are overflowing it’s easy pickings for them. The people who empty them to a good job, but often than not, they’re still overflowing because there just aren’t enough of them.
“Part of the issue with it looking tired and tatty stems from the resources available. We’re desperately in need of more bins, it’s a public health issue.
“Some would say we get forgotten about compared to other places, so we just have to shout more loudly to get things done.”
Andrew Bateman, 42, runs three kiosks – Ships Galley, Bay View Fish and Chips and By the Bridge doughnut shop – near the harbour.
He said: “We usually have more bins put here in the summer, but they haven’t arrived this year. The council have also taken some bins away while works were being done on the bridge and haven’t put them back.
“The bins are emptied three times a day, with the last time being between 5-6pm, but our busy time starts at 6pm, so by 9pm they’re overflowing, and the seagulls pull it all out and the rubbish ends up blows all over the bay, and then it becomes a right mess.
“We had a big problem with rats last year, they were living by the rocks by the Harbour Master’s office, but they don’t seem so much of a problem since the council put bait stations down.”
Parking pain
Speaking about the ‘Broadchurch beach” – also known as West Bay or West Beach – Andrew added: “There aren’t enough bins there either, but the biggest problem is the car-parking charges.”
The price of parking was £2 a day just three years ago, but is has steadily increased to £15 per day, or £3 per hour in the summer months. Parking after 6pm is free.
“People forget this isn’t Weymouth, this is a small harbour town and it’s already affected business, especially with locals. They’re not going to come down and buy a cup of coffee when they’ve got to pay £3 to park.
“It doesn’t affect it so much in the summer holidays, but out of season when it’s just locals and day-trippers after a coffee or fish and chips, we see less people, and we’re worried about our businesses.”
Locals are also concerned about one side of the harbour wall collapsing and how long it might take for it to be repaired.
“The side of the harbour wall has collapsed so they’ve had to shut the toilets which are there. It means if you need a disabled toilet you have to go all the way through the harbour and back to the beach to the other toilets,” he added.
“Work is planned to repair it, but I don’t know when it will happen. We have a lot of issues here – it’s like we’re the forgotten town.”
The 600ft high cliffs hit the headlines just weeks ago after a massive rockfall saw thousands of tonnes of mud and rocks crash on to the beach below.
On the blustery but sunny day The Sun visited the town, dog walkers and beachgoers strolled carefree along the bottom of the cliffs, stepping over the rocks which haven’t yet been swept away by the tide.
They were apparently unconcerned, despite several yellow warning signs urging people to stay away from the sandstone cliff-face due to risk of ‘injury or death’.
Businessman Andrew expressed his concern about Broadchurch fans risking their lives to get snaps of the beach.
He said: “The footpath up to the clifftop has been moved back, which was bound to happen as the cliffs erode, but it’s about keeping people safe.
“What I do worry about is that someone is going to get killed and then they’ll close the beach off completely. There was another rockfall last week and people still walk along the bottom when another could happen at any time.”
John Purse hires out rowing boats and runs guided canoe tours, and wants to see more recycling facilities – as all bins in West Bay are for general waste only.
“The people who empty the bins do a sterling job, but near the harbour where rubbish gets blown in the water there should be more bins.
“We’ve seen a definite decrease in footfall since the end of the pandemic. We were very busy during Covid, but since the price of parking has gone up it’s putting some people off coming into town for a portion of chips, an ice-cream or a go on a rowing boat.
“Everyone’s tightening their belts, so there are a number of factors to consider, but we’re certainly seeing less people who’ve popped out for an hour or two.”
John also commented on the issue of visitors not being sensible while at the beach.
He said: “A number of people have been hurt by falling rocks in the past year, but it’s down to using common sense, which doesn’t seem to be that common.
“I’ve lived here all my life and never been hit by a rock, but then I tend not to sit underneath a sandstone cliff.”
Wallis Feal, 23, works at the top of the harbour, near the Jurassic Pier.
The strip of kiosks is next to side of the harbour wall, which is crumbling, and the toilets there are now closed off.
Behind the kiosks is a walkway leading to the Harbour Master’s office, and the benches outside are surrounded by black bait-stations laid after an invasion of rats living among the rocks last year.
Wallis says while the rats are no longer a problem, the state of the crumbling, pot-holed pavement is causing accidents and injury.
Wallis said: “The pavement is awful, I’ve seen a lot of people falling over and even wheelchairs toppling over because of it.
“The drainage needs sorting out too, it gets blocked all the time and it’s left to the businesses to try to sort it out, and that’s not our job."
Rats banished
Dillon Wilson, from Bridport, works in By the Bridge kiosk.
He said: “When the bins start over-flowing there’s rubbish all over the streets, and we have a massive problem with seagulls.
“I’ve also seen some rats at night-time, which is why the kiosks have been reinforced with wire round the bottom, but that’s not as big a problem as it used to be.
“The rats did get inside some of them, but it’s not so much of a problem now the traps have been put down.
“It’s almost like some of the area has been modernised too much. If you look at the newer buildings, they look all nice and shiny, but the rest have just been left.
“It would be great if they could put a kids play area or something on the green. It’s beautiful here but it just needs a general face-lift.”
Dillon has also seen tourists risking their lives on the clifftop.
“I go to the cliffs all the time and take my nieces, but I wish there was something to stop people getting too close to the edge.
“Only the other week I saw someone leaning over the edge trying to get a picture, it’s just so dangerous.”
Dorset Council told The Sun they aim to start repair work on the harbour wall and drainage problems near the Harbour Master's office between late autumn and late winter.
In response to complaints about "high volumes of litter", they told us that two additional bins had been installed.
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When asked about providing more bins in the future, the council told us they "will continue to review the situation".
They added: "But any changes introduced will have to be affordable and consider the visual impact of further litter bins."
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