Anglian Water closes Sykes Lane beach at Rutland Water for delivery of new sand

The sun might be shining but the beach is closed to visitors this week.

Anglian Water is shutting the man-made beach at Sykes Lane on the shores of Rutland Water tomorrow and Wednesday (July 30 and 31) to lay new sand.

It comes despite the fact that the Met Office is predicting temperatures to reach 28 °C - but the firm said that when the work was booked, it was not forecast to be warm and it cannot move the delivery.

There will be no access to the beach, the water or the grass area around the beach on either of these days but the minigolf, the café, visitor centre and playground will remain open.

A statement issued on social media said: “We know this is bad timing, especially with the weather on Tuesday. Huge apologies for any disappointment this causes and we look forward to welcoming you to the fresh sand!”

In a question and answer, it said there were 200 tons of sand being delivered and it wasn’t laid before the start of the summer holidays because the wet spring led to high water levels in the reservoir and not enough shoreline space to make the beach. As the weather has dried up the water has dropped, we now have the space to lay sand.

It added: “From this point in the year there wont be any better times and we want to get sand down so you can enjoy the new sand for the rest of the summer.”

Deliveries start early in the morning with 100 tons being delivered each day.

The firm added that it couldn’t close just part of the beach because “we can't take the risk with public and small children being close to the work area, young children in particular are fascinated by tractors/trucks and want to get close to them”.

There are no current plans to close it on any other day “unless the weather or water quality are poor”.