A PARISH council is seeking official designation for a popular paddling spot in an attempt to protect the water from pollution.

Deviock Parish Council has started the process for obtaining bathing water status for the River Seaton estuary where it crosses the beach at Seaton.

The sea itself at Seaton is already designated as a bathing water site, and received a classification of ‘excellent’ in the most recent assessment in 2021.

But last month there was more than one pollution alert on this part of the coast, when a period of heavy rainfall led to storm water overflows being released.

The local council is wary, and is now taking action that it hopes will keep the river safe as a sheltered place for young children to swim and play.

“This section of the river is enjoyed by local families and holiday makers throughout the summer, and councillors wish to ensure that it continues to be safe for them to do so,” said a spokesperson for Deviock Parish Council.

“The local community and parish councillors are concerned, not only about ongoing water quality standards in the river here, but also the potential impact of the Tencreek development upstream (near Liskeard and Menheniot).”

The spokesperson continued: “The Council has posted a planning response to this effect on the Tencreek application, and has opened a dialogue with Menheniot Parish Council so that we may co-operate more effectively on this issue in the future.”

If Deviock Parish Council is successful in its bid, a bathing water profile and plans for monitoring will be put in place by the Environment Agency, and Cornwall Council will be obliged to display information on water quality and pollution sources over the summer period.

A request for bathing water designation has to be made to the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The first stage of the application, which requires monitoring of bathing activities and numbers of people using the site,  was carried out this summer with the support of the RNLI.

Lifesaving manager for North and South Cornwall James Millidge said: “Our lifeguards very kindly recorded the numbers of people using the River Seaton for recreation. This was done arround four times a day at two-hour intervals during the peak season period from early July to the end of August. The lifeguards collected this data at the same time as our standard beach population data gathering, so to ensure minimal impact on daily operations.

“Improved water quality in the River Seaton (as well as being an improvement in itself) will result in less pollution going out to sea, helping to make the bathing water in the sea all the cleaner and safer.

“The RNLI were very happy to work in partnership with Deviock Parish Council to gather this information.”