The large mass of seaweed covering Weymouth’s golden sands is to be moved – further down the beach.

Weymouth Town Council has now asked contractors to shift the kelp along the beach so it can be taken away by the high tide.

“Sometimes Mother Nature needs a helping hand,” town council clerk Jane Biscombe told a town council meeting on Wednesday evening.

Earlier this month the town council said it had made a 'conscious decision' not to remove the seaweed at the Pavilion end of the beach, which 'supports its commitment to preserving the ecosystem's integrity'.

The authority’s seaweed intervention comes after uproar from beachgoers who branded the algal deposits ‘smelly’ and slimy’.

Children were being put off from entering the sea, one holidaymaker said, and were ‘bursting into tears’ at the prospect of wading through a carpet of seaweed.

The seaweed on Weymouth beach led to warnings on TripAdvisor with tourists telling people to ‘stay away’ in reviews of the beach and sparked a national debate on Radio 4’s Today programme with TV presenter Chris Packham telling beachgoers to ‘get a grip’.

Speaking at the full council meeting of Weymouth Town Council on Thursday evening, Cllr Peter Barrow asked for an update on the ‘seaweed situation’ as the school holidays are ‘fast approaching’.

In response, town clerk Jane Biscombe said it was caused by ‘extremely high tides’ and ‘very strong north-easterly winds’ and this was ‘a usual occurrence on Weymouth beach’.

She added: “However, the volumes this year have been much, much higher than expected.

“Usually, these algal deposits are reclaimed by the next high tide. Unfortunately, the initial high tide and wind combinations have not been repeated and so the deposits have not been returned to the marine environment as usual.”

As the town council is committed to 'positive, supportive management of natural environment', she said, "for this reason we do not remove algal deposits from the beach."

"However, sometimes Mother Nature needs a helping hand,...in this case, helping the sea reclaim her vegetation.

"For this reason, we have engaged contractors to move the sea algae deposits a little further down the beach to ensure that the next high tide can reach the stranded matter and return it to the sea so it can continue to form an important part of the food chain."

The town clerk added that the seaweed will be moved 'in time for the main visitor season.'