Towans Partnership

The Towans and adjacent beaches are hugely popular destinations for both local people and visitors to the area. They are used for a variety of outdoor recreational activities including walking, dog exercising, water sports, observing or recording wildlife and family day-outs. The Towans are the second largest dune system in Cornwall with most of th... e area being designated as an SSSI by Natural England. One major issue for this area has been the fragmentation of land and beach ownership. The Towans has very complex multi-ownership and multi-management arrangements with minimal co-ordination and communication between the many varied and interested parties. There is no over-arching management or long term cohesive plan and no one person responsible for driving this plan. For example CWT manage Upton Towans but the land is owned by Cornwall Council. Gwithian Towans is owned by the Hocking Trust but managed by Cornwall Council The Towans Partnership which meets every three months was established to address this issue of fragmentation and to focus on facilitating communication between different agencies and groups and identify issues that are common across the Towans. It has no management powers but it can advise, recommend and ask people to attend to explain decisions. The Partnership has representatives from local communities and from the statutory and voluntary sectors involved in conservation. It includes landowners, businesses and Cllrs from Cornwall, Hayle Town and Gwinear- Gwithian Parish Councils and an independent Chair. The conservation and protection of habitats and wildlife. There have been a number of presentations made by the various managing bodies on the management of wildlife on Gwithian Green, St Gothian, Gwithian Towans and Upton. Grazing and cutting of scrub and keeping footpaths open are issues often discussed. The Towans Partnership has recently recommended that St Gothian should become an SSSI since it meets the criteria due to the presence of priority and scarce species such as the ...Read More