MORE than a quarter of Britain’s best-rated beaches should be stripped of their Blue Flag status, campaigners say.
According to research by Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), 34 beaches are unable to comply with a requirement imposed by the Blue Flag programme to warn people about raw sewage spilling into the sea. Those on the list in the North-East and North Yorkshire are Seaburn, in Sunderland, Filey, North Bay Beach, in Scarborough, and Whitby West Cliff.
Britain has 131 beaches that have passed strict tests to fly the flag – showing excellence in water quality and beach cleanliness. However, SAS found councils responsible for 20 Blue Flag beaches in England and 14 in the rest of Britain did not request up-todate information on combined sewage overflow (CSO) discharge.
The campaign group said it meant those beaches could not meet a mandatory requirement to warn people during and after emergency pollution events, such as sewage discharge from a CSO, which could pose health risks to bathers.
A spokesman for Keep Britain Tidy, which runs the scheme in England, said it had reminded beach managers of the Blue Flag criteria and their obligations to take the Blue Flag down when their beach is not meeting all the criteria.
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