All of Cornwall’s beaches have passed tough bathing water quality standards, according to figures published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs this week.

In Looe, the Bathing Water group is particularly pleased after securing an improvement in standards: the town’s beach has now been rated ’Good’ after being ’Sufficient’ for three years running.

Huge efforts have been made in the Looe Bathing Water catchment area to raise awareness on how to prevent pollutants from entering the rivers and surface water.

Malcolm Bell, chair of the BeachWise forum for the South West and Chief Executive of Visit Cornwall, welcomed the results:

’It’s fantastic to see all Cornwall’s beaches pass these tougher tests with flying colours. This is great news for everyone who enjoys visiting our beautiful coastline.

’It is the fourth consecutive year that 100% of Cornwall’s beaches have made the grade.

’Bathing waters are much cleaner and have continually improved since 1990 when just 27% met European water quality standards. In this region, this is thanks to massive efforts by Defra, the Environment Agency, South West Water, councils, local communities, farmers and environmental organisations.’

The new regulations classify bathing waters as excellent, good, sufficient or poor, based on the level of bacteria in the water as monitored by the Environment Agency over the previous four years.

 

In accordance with the regulations, signs advising against bathing will be placed at the two ‘poor’ beaches in Devon by the beach managers when next year’s bathing season begins in May. Ilfracombe (Wildersmouth) has been classified as ‘poor’ for five consecutive years, meaning it will be removed from the list of designated bathing waters.

 

Malcolm added: “The beaches rated as poor are still open for people to enjoy, but it’s really important that all the organisations and the local communities involved continue to play their part to improve and protect bathing water quality.”

Ed Mitchell, South West Water’s Director of Environment, said: “We know how highly our customers value the region’s beaches, which is why we’ve invested so heavily in protecting and improving bathing water over the years, so we’re delighted with today’s announcement.”

  

Of the 150 designated bathing waters in Devon and Cornwall just two – Combe Martin and Ilfracombe (Wildersmouth) in Devon – have been rated as ‘poor’, due largely to agricultural and urban drainage issues.

Bathing water quality can be affected by many factors including rainwater running off roads and roofs, run-off from agricultural land, water company infrastructure, sewage from privately owned treatment works and septic tanks, boats or even animals such as dogs or seabirds on the beach. This can be made worse by heavy rain.

To co-ordinate efforts to keep our beaches and bathing waters clean, and to share best practice, a BeachWise coastal community partnership was formed in the South West in 2016. It aims to promote safe, enjoyable fun on the beach. For information visit: www.beachwise.org.uk

ENDS

 

Of the 150 bathing waters assessed in Devon and Cornwall:

125 have been rated excellent

21 have been rated good

2 have been rated sufficient

2 have been rated poor

Visit Cornwall

Visit Cornwall is a Community Interest Company, run by the tourism industry, for the tourism industry. It is the Tourist Board for Cornwall, the lead body for destination marketing and champion of the tourism industry.

Visit Cornwall excels at award-winning destination marketing to attract visitors to Cornwall throughout the year, and provides a broad range of services to business members and promotional partners.  This powerful combination directly contributes to increasing the sector’s competitiveness, profitability and sustainability, and to improving the quality of tourism jobs and careers.  To discover more about Visit Cornwall please head to visitcornwall.com

For press and media enquiries please contact;

T: 01872 261735

BeachWise Forum