Time Running Out For Centre
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
A popular visitor centre in Studland will have to be relocated before it is flooded by the sea, the National Trust has said.
Emma Wright says moving the facilities would be difficult.
The timber building on Knoll Beach is the latest facility to come under threat from the advancing tides – beach huts there have already been moved back three times in as many decades.
Visitor services manager Emma Wright said: "We need to generate income to make the site sustainable.
"One way to do that is through the car park, shops, café and beach huts, but unfortunately all those sites are likely to be washed away.
"We'll have water lapping away at the door of the café and the shop."
The National Trust estimates moving the facilities would cost £3.6m but, despite the encroaching shore line, no firm plan of action has been made.
Ms Wright added: "It's a very difficult problem for us, especially as we are in a high conservation area.
"It's a Site of Special Scientific Interest, we have lizards and reptiles that need protecting, so we have a lot to take into account."
Two metres of the eroding beach were lost in just four weeks as a result of storms earlier this year.
