By Victoria Leggett

Picture the scene: the golden sands of Cromer beach, the imposing Victorian pier in the background and children happily building sand-castles with their buckets and spades.

Some might say the only thing missing is the traditional holiday attraction, enjoyed at many seaside destinations across the country, of donkey rides.

But not according to tourism officials at north Norfolk’s district council who have told a mother-of-three that she cannot run the service on Cromer beach because it “does not fit” with what the town has to offer.

Amanda Cook, of West Runton, has been battling for months to bring her two donkeys, Barry and Ivan, on to the beach for the rides which she thinks will prove a further draw to tourists and provide many happy memories for customers.

She said: “I think children will love it and other people will sit on the beach and watch them ride up and down. I think it will be something else people will remember their holiday for. I don’t see what harm it will do.”

So far she has met with licensing and environmental health officers from North Norfolk District Council who have reacted positively and Mrs Cook feels confident she will be granted an operator’s licence.

“Hopefully, touch wood, I am going to get that through quite soon,” said the 33-year-old.

Yet when it comes to getting permission from the same council to have the animals on the beach, Mrs Cook, who already runs a horse and cart taxi through Cromer town centre with husband Joe, has come up against a brick wall.

No one from the council was available to comment last night but in March Mrs Cook received an email from Karl Read, NNDC’s leisure and cultural services manager, who said: “At this present time we feel, as a council, that this does not fit with what we are offering in Cromer. This is the decision we have made, and that decision is final.”

Mrs Cook, mother to Lauren, 15, Allyse, nine, and Bobby, three, said: “I think they are associating it with a cheesy image but there are lots of nice places that do it.”

A number of emails have since passed between the two, with Mrs Cook explaining she is organising public liability insurance, drawing up a formal proposal, completing a donkey operators’ course and checking the attraction would not harm Cromer’s blue flag status.

But the council official has told her: “We have, in recent years, been approached by other companies wishing to provide donkey rides at other beaches and we have said no. Therefore we cannot allow it to any other business including your own.”

It would not be the first time donkeys have been on Cromer beach. At the end of the 19th century, they were used to haul carts of coal which had been brought in by sea.

In Great Yarmouth, a similar donkey rides scheme has been running for the past six years. Hayley Bulgin, of Parkers Donkey World, said they were incredibly popular.

She said: “Kids absolutely love it. And adults are the worst ones – they really want their kids to go on because it’s their holiday memories.”

Miss Bulgin has a number of rules she has to abide by set by both the borough council and a national donkey sanctuary – but she said none of them prevented the business working well on the beach.

She said: “We provide helmets, use hand-gel sanitiser afterwards for the children, we lay out a clear runway with sticks and we have to clear up the muck afterwards.”

They also have a licence from the borough council, undergo a health and safety inspection each year, and have regular checks on the welfare of the donkeys.

While North Norfolk District Council remains steadfast in its refusal, Cromer Town Council’s view could not be more different.

The authority’s clerk, Julie Chance, is due to have a meeting with the area’s district councillor Nigel Ripley next week. She said: “We’re asking him to speak to NNDC to get them to change their minds because we think it’s a brilliant idea.”

In the meantime, Mrs Cook plans to do private parties and get involved with Cromer carnival while she tries to convince the council to reconsider.