Reports reaching NUFF suggest that signs have been erected at Botany Bay beach, Margate, threatening naturists who use the beach with prosecution.

The sign carries a Thanet District Council logo sticker in the top right corner of the sign but no other indication of who has seen fit to install it. A similar post - but without any attatched notice - has been erected at the other end of this section of beach.

Botany Bay (also known as 'Foreness Point') on the outskirts of Margate in Kent, has a long history of use for nude swimming and sunbathing. Twenty years or more ago it was even proposed that it should become an "official" naturist beach. The idea was dropped in the face of opposition from residents who, according to the late Phil Vallack, though it would "Contaminate the children's minds..."

Whether the threat to prosecute naturists could actually be carried might depend on the existence of a relevant byelaw, since nudity without the intention to cause alarm or distress is not, of itself, and offence in England and Wales.

Elsewhere in Kent, byelaws dating from the first half of the last century have been used in recent years to deter naturists, but enquiries with Thanet Council have so far failed to reveal the existence of byelaw controlling clothing worn for bathing at Botany Bay.

If you have any additional information about the situation at Botany Bay, please contact us, either by adding a comment to this item, or via NUFF's contact form.