Shropshire Star

Litter bugs spoil it for the rest as tunnel to Blue Lake is blocked off

A farmer has sealed off a quarry beauty spot with 60 tons of slate after getting fed up with visitors leaving rubbish strewn over the site,

Published
Access to the Blue Lake quarry has been closed by the landowner due to litter louts

Blue Lake in Fairbourne, on the Welsh coast in Gwynedd, has been hugely popular with tourists since the 1980s but now its owner has had enough of having to clean up after inconsiderate visitors.

Allan Titley, who bought the nearby farm and surrounding land around 30 years ago, used digger to block the access tunnel – declaring "enough is enough".

The landowner revealed he has had to clear away beer cans, bottles, dirty nappies, disposable barbecues, tents, bags of rubbish, dog poo, and even human excrement.

A video showing the digger at the quarry tunnel entrance has been viewed more than 80,000 times on Facebook page I Love Fairbourne.

WATCH the video here:

Mr Titley said that the situation at the site had gotten considerably worse over recent years with more and more people revealing its location on social media.

He said: "Thirty years ago they respected the place.

"It is a beautiful beauty spot and it has just been trashed.

"It's private land in the middle of my farm. They are destroying the land."

In a post on Facebook Wild Swim Snowdonia said it was heartbroken that people would no longer be able to use the quarry.

It said: "We are devastated to hear that the much loved Blue Lake in Fairbourne is no more. Like many, we grew up having picnics, swims and special family time there.

"From what we hear, we understand the farmer has been forced to block the entrance due to the unbelievable amounts of litter he is having to clear away himself.

"To give an idea of scale alone, we hear that last weekend he found bags and bags of rubbish, 41 bags of dog poo, beer cans and bottles, dirty nappies, used condoms, leftover food, half a dozen disposable BBQs and tents.

"As locals and as swimmers, we are heartbroken by this. We understand the farmer has reached the end of his tether (and we don’t blame him for that!) and respect his decision. But we are left speechless that people would disrespect a beautiful spot to that degree which now ultimately means thousands of families cannot.

"Shame on you litter bugs."