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A council has been accused of wrecking a popular Easter holiday beach after it dumped 100 Christmas trees on it.

The firs were stripped of their fairies and planted on Porthtowan, Cornwall, instead of being taken to the tip or shredded after the festive season.

And residents – who have been threatened with action if they remove them - fear the eyesore will be damaging to the tourist trade, which is 'vital' to the local economy.

No-go area: 100 Christmas trees have been dumped on the beach in Porthtowan, Cornwall

'Damaging': Locals fear the trees will prevent tourists from visiting the beach over the Easter break

Cornwall Council said the trees would bind with the shingle and form a defence line of new dunes to stop the beach being eroded by the pounding waves.

But the Porthtowan Dunes Community Group say the plan has failed, leaving the battered and weather-beaten Christmas trees sticking out of the sand.

They claim it will make the beach a laughing stock when holidaymakers arrive this Easter.
Rose Trengove, group spokesman, said: 'We were told by the council's dunes expert that the Christmas trees would be covered by sand come April.

An 'eyesore': Old Christmas trees can be seen poking out of the sand on the West Country beach

Eco-plan: The Council planted the trees on the beach in January to form a defence line of new dunes

'We wanted to see if it would work, but it hasn't and is now an eyesore and a blight.'

The council has banned villagers - who were encouraged to take their Christmas trees to be planted on the beach in January – from removing them from the beach.

Luke Morris, who runs the Blue Bar yards from the straggly stumps, said the trees are now 'an eyesore on what is a fantastic beach'.

He added: 'It's alienating visitors at a time when Cornwall, as a whole, needs as much support as it can get.'

'Alienating visitors': The Christmas trees will prevent tourists from visiting, according to locals

The council claimed in January that the trees would act as 'wind traps' and allow grass to grow and bind the sand together, to stop the beach being gradually washed away by storms.

Cornwall Councillor Joyce Duffin said 'I can't comment if the trees are or are not working, though I think they are trapping some of the sand.'

About the villagers' threat to uproot the trees, she warned: 'They would need to have permission because it's council land.'