Beaches in South East Cornwall will not be among those to have the first RNLI lifeguard patrols this weekend.

The RNLI said it was in talks with local authorities to finalise arrangements but that patrols were set to resume on 15 beaches this Saturday (May 30) including seven in Cornwall: Gwithian, Fistral, Mawgan Porth, Polzeath, Constantine, Perranporth and Widemouth. Croyde in Devon is also set to be lifeguarded from the weekend.

Under normal circumstances, patrols would have started up around the coast at around Easter time, building to a full cover on more than 200 beaches around the coast.

But the RNLI said it had to pause its usual training programme due to the coronavirus outbreak, and that getting ready to reinstate the lifeguard service was ’not as simple as putting lifeguards on the beach’, as they would need new training to encompass the safety requirements of protecting against the transmission of Covid-19.

The RNLI said it was also facing a huge shortfall in funding due to a halt in its regular fundraising activities.Of the £20m it costs each year to fund a normal cohort of lifeguards, £16m comes from donations, and £4m from payments from local authorities for the service provided on beaches.

A spokeperson for the charity said: ’As part of the contract with either the local authority or the private beach, they pay for the lifeguard service that the RNLI provide. It is a very small percentage of the overall cost and is in effect a contribution towards the lifeguards’ wages – the RNLI cover the training, equipment and infrastructure and the rest of the wages.’

In an open letter published yesterday, RNLI chief executive said the charity was in ’an impossible situation’ between its remit to protect the public and its need to protect liefguards.

Mark Dowie urged the Government to restrict public access to beaches until lifeguard provision could be put in place.

Cornwall Council’s cabinet member for Public Protection Rob Nolan has said ’It’s simply best if people avoid the water at the moment.’

’We are working closely with the Coastguard and RNLI to try and keep the public as safe as possible, but it is simply best if people avoid the water,’ he said.

’It isn’t just the usual dangers that are always present when you have large numbers of people entering the water, but also the difficulties surrounding social distancing in busy car parks and on beaches.’

The RNLI told the Cornish Times today that after reinstating patrols on seven Cornish beaches this wseekend, it hoped to roll out the service on more beaches later in June.

On the subject of funding, it said: ’The RNLI is proud of its independence and in normal circumstances does not accept funds from central government. However, these are exceptional times and so we have applied for the government support we are aware of to help see our charity through this difficult period. ’This includes the Job Retention Scheme, business rates relief, grant funds and Gift Aid support.

’Other government funding and loans specifically for charities dealing directly with the pandemic were not available or appropriate for our organisation.’

Chief Executive Mark Dowie said that the RNLI still faced a ’£45 million shortfall by the end of the year’.