Swimmers are being advised to not swim in four bathing spots across Somerset - including a beloved beach popular with familes. With Summer holidays and warmer weather coming up, many of us will flock to the beach for a lovely refreshing swim.
There are 425 locations in England that have been designated as official bathing spots by the Environment Agency. The water quality of most of those (281) is classified as “excellent”. At another 99 it’s classified as “good”.
There are, however, 18 sites where tests by the Environment Agency found that the water quality was “poor” and people are advised against bathing there. That includes five sites that had been classified as fine a year ago.
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These spots include Weston-super-Mare's main beach, where day-trippers and residents are expected to flock to this Summer. Elsewhere in the town, people are advised not to swim at Sand Bay or Uphill Slipway.
Dunster Beach, known locally as a quiet beach and popular with those avoiding Minehead Beach, is also a beach not to swim at. These four spots won the tongue-in-cheek 'Brown Flag Awards' which aim to support a campaign for cleaner beaches.
In December 2023, North Somerset Council said the local authority and its partners "renewed their commitment to understanding and improving water quality along the area’s coastline". North Somerset Council’s Director of Public Health, Matt Lenny, said: "I’d like to reassure everyone who uses our beaches and might feel worried about these results.
"There’s no pass/fail standards for individual water samples. Instead, the classification is based on a statistical measure of all samples over a four-year period. A sample simply tells us the quality of the water at that specific time, but water can change even over the course of one day.
"We have an active signage system in place at Weston’s main beach which uses a prediction forecast to let swimmers know if there’s potential for lower water quality in real time. We want to make sure all our beachgoers are well informed so they can choose how best to enjoy their time on our coastline."
The Environment Agency has also issued permanent advice against swimming in the areas around Burnham Jetty North. The area lost its status as a designated bathing water a number of years ago thanks to poor water quality.
Environment Agency says the beach sits at the mouth of two large rivers, the Brue and Parrett which greatly influence the bathing water quality. It has added: "Despite extensive investigations and investment bathing water quality cannot be guaranteed to achieve the sufficient standard required under the Bathing Water Regulations."
You can see all the bathing spots that the Environment Agency advises against bathing in by using our interactive map:
Elsewhere in the country, one of those had been classified as “good” is Littlestone in Kent. Another three had been classified as “sufficient” - Porthluney in Cornwall, Southsea East in Portsmouth, and St Annes North in Blackpool. The fourth - the River Deben Estuary in Suffolk - wasn’t listed as a bathing spot last year.
The list of bathing spots swimmers are advised to avoid includes popular seaside towns such as Blackpool North, Bridlington South Beach, Bognor Regis (Aldwick) and Scarborough South Bay The Environment Agency has also issued permanent advice against swimming in four official bathing sites - Clacton (Groyne 41), Instow, Ilfracombe Wildersmouth, and Burnham Jetty North.
You can see all the bathing spots that the Environment Agency advises against bathing in by using our interactive map:
The Environment Agency tests water at bathing sites throughout the year for the presence of harmful bacteria such as Escherichia coli (known as E. coli) and Intestinal enterococci.
Each bathing site is then given a rating based on the results over the year, either “excellent”, “good”, “sufficient” or “poor”.
The ratings in the map therefore are based on the Environment Agency’s water tests conducted throughout 2023.
Full list of bathing spots where bathing is not advised and water quality poor
- Blackpool North
- Bognor Regis (Aldwick)
- Bridlington South Beach
- Dunster Beach
- Heacham
- Littlestone
- Porthluney
- River Deben Estuary, Waldringfield
- Scarborough South Bay
- Southsea East
- St Annes North
- St Mary's Bay (Kent)
- Tynemouth Cullercoats
- Weston Main
- Weston-super-Mare Sand Bay
- Weston-super-Mare Uphill Slipway
- Wharfe at Cromwheel, Ilkley
- Wolvercote Mill Stream
Areas where permanent advice against bathing is in place:
- Clacton (Groyne 41)
- Instow
- Ilfracombe Wildersmouth
- Burnham Jetty North
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