English Bathing Waters Update

New statistics released by DEFRA on the quality of bathing water around England have shown that swimming waters are the cleanest since records began. 413 beaches and lakes were tested around the country of which 98.5% of those passed standards with 93.2% of those being rated ‘excellent’ or ‘good’, an increase of over 5% since 2015. Last year standards became stricter under EU legislation but also aimed to give more recognition to ‘excellent’ swimming beaches. These revised bathing water ratings may encourage more coastal ‘staycations’ boosting seaside economy which is estimated to be worth more than £3.6 billion annually with 146 million visitors each year.

For the North West’s 31 bathing waters (includes 3 inland on Windermere), 3 bathing waters formerly classed as ‘poor’ have moved to ‘sufficient’, meeting the tough new standards. These are Allonby, Clevelys and Silloth. This change means all NW bathing waters now meet the new standards, with 5 more meeting ‘sufficient’, 11 meeting ‘good’ and 12 meeting the ‘excellent’ classification. An extract from the 2016 results is shown below.

The full England results can be found by following this link

Updated results from the Marine Conservation Society’s Good Beach Guide can be found here.