As temperatures soar over 30C, many Britons are searching for an outdoor space they can enjoy with friends and family. 

Newhaven West Beach, in East Sussex, has been closed to the public by its French owners Newhaven Port and Properties since 2008 after being deemed unsafe for visitors.

But frustrated locals took matters into their own hands last weekend and stormed the beach, breaking open locked gates that were blocking access to the sand and cool water.

'Somebody sawed off the lock and everybody went down there,' local pensioner Jean Bacon revealed. 'We need our beach, we need it open. It's disgusting.'

She recalled how she used to go on the beach when she was a child and it 'used to be packed with children'. 

Newhaven is one of the only sandy beaches in the area.

'We got used to the stones, but it would be nice for kids and families to have the sand back,' local Jamie Turner said.

The 39-year-old emphasised how the 'beach used to be a big part of summer' and described the situation as 'really sad'.

He added: 'There used to be cafes and everything down there. Especially on a summer's day like this when it's 30 degrees.'

Newhaven Port and Properties have previously rejected proposals to reopen the beach.

The broken lock had been replaced by Monday morning.

Jamie said: 'Breaking the law is never on, but it would be nice if it could be open legally and properly.'

Local politicians have been campaigning to reopen the beach.

Liberal Democrat MP James MacCleary is pushing the Newhaven West Beach Public Access Bill.

He aims to open the beach through right of access, which would enforce that safe routes to its sandy shores are secured too. 

MacCleary said: 'West Beach is not just a strip of sand, it is part of Newhaven's history, its identity and its community life.

'For 17 years, local families - including my own - have been denied access to a beach where generations once swam, played and made memories. That cannot be right.

'My West Beach Bill is about fairness. It is about standing up for a community that has been shut out of its own seafront for far too long.

'Of course safety and harbour operations matter. But they cannot be used forever as a blanket excuse to keep people away from a much-loved public amenity.

'This is the first parliamentary bill that attempts to put the right of access to West Beach into law. It sends a clear message: Newhaven deserves its beach back. The Government must now adopt this Bill and make it law.'

The Daily Mail has contacted Newhaven Port and Properties for comment. 

Since the beach was closed off in 2008, there have been numerous protests. 

The Mail reported in 2015 how townsfolk would scale fences to use the stretch of land and hold 'protest picnics'. 

At the time, the Supreme Court agreed that West Beach would not be able to become a village green and therefore enjoyed by locals. 

They ruled the stretch of sand would remain fenced off under the instruction of its owners, a joint venture of French local authorities. 

The ruling came after a campaign by people living in the nearby town to have the beach registered as a village green so they could have unrestricted access to it. 

And in 2014, around 300 people stormed the fence surrounding the beach. 

The group gathered as the low tide made way for the sand, before using ladders to climb over the barricade. 

They then ran on to the beach to spread out Union Flags and write messages in the sand, including: 'Give us our surf beach back.'