If grazing pressure does not allow the development of scrub or woodland on the fixed dunes, the fixed dune grasslands will eventually develop into a different vegetation type. The surface of the soil continues to be leached by rainwater and this gradually washes out the basic minerals (especially calcium) which caused the high pH of the earlier successional stages.

Without a large plant biomass to lock up the plant nutrients, these are also leached out of the soil surface. The result is a dry, acid, nutrient-poor substrate. Plants which are adapted to these conditions are those of acid grasslands and heathlands, and on very old parts of the dune system these vegetation types can develop.

Because the acidic conditions required for dune heath only develop on the old, landward dunes, this habitat has been severely affected by housing development and pine plantations. Only small fragments of dune heath remain on the Sefton Coast, much of it on Ministry of Defence land and golf courses. One small patch at Freshfield (north of the station) is accessible to the public. A leaflet on the Dune Heath on the Sefton Coast is available from the Sefton Coast Partnership.