A lot of hard work goes into securing Seaside Awards and bathing water quality has improved a LOT on the Fylde Coast. Beaches will be flying the flag once again so take a look at what goes into the annual bathing water classifications.
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Flying the Flag in 2025
Environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy announces the winners of the prestigious Seaside Awards for 2025.
The national awards reward local beaches for their high standards of beach management, nearby facilities and water quality. These UK beaches are all on the ‘green list’ for this summer. Proving that you don’t need to jet off to visit some of the best beaches in the world – they’re right here on our doorstep.
Three of Blackpool Council’s beaches will be flying the Seaside Award flags this year.
- Blackpool South,
- Blackpool Central, and
- Bispham
Once again four beaches in Wyre Council’s area will also be flying flags this summer to distinguish them as amongst the best in the country. Receiving Seaside Awards for another year are:
- Rossall Beach at Cleveleys,
- Jubilee Beach in Cleveleys,
- plus Marine Beach, Fleetwood
- and Ferry Beach in Fleetwood.
St Annes Pier Beach will also be flying a Seaside Award flag, which is in Fylde Council.
The UK Seaside Awards are quality marks for the country’s beaches. It means you can be sure that they’re clean and safe. They meet the highest environmental standards, as well as the tough international bathing water quality standards.
About Seaside Awards and Bathing Water Quality
The bathing water season runs from 5 May to 30 September each year. The Environment Agency (EA) tests the water each week for levels of bacteria, taking 20 samples at each site, every year.
These sites must meet strict European guidelines on water quality. The aim is to protect the health of people who may want to swim, paddle or even just splash and play there.
Many different factors can affect these readings – and even can cause them to fail. We can all play a part in making sure that the water meets the highest standard possible. Please be responsible for your own actions – at home as well as near the beach.
The Seaside Awards and bathing water quality results recognise how well-managed and maintained the bathing waters are here on the Fylde Coast.
What is the Seaside Award?
Keep Britain Tidy’s Seaside Award is the nationwide standard for the best beaches across the UK. Bathing water results from the previous summer is one of the factors to determine whether a beach secures a Seaside Award.
When you see the Seaside Award flag flying, or a plaque, it’s a symbol of quality. It ensures you’ll experience a clean, safe, attractive and well-managed coastal stretch.
Among the criteria beaches are assessed against are:
- Safety and services, such as first aid, lifeguards where necessary
- Environmental information including displaying details about local eco systems
- Environmental management, including litter and waste.
- Water quality – Blue Flag beaches must meet the ‘excellent’ water quality standard as set out in the EU bathing water directive and Seaside Award winners must meet the ‘sufficient’ standard.
Seaside Awards and Bathing Water Quality on the Fylde Coast
All of the Bathing Beaches on the Fylde Coast usually fly the Seaside Award flag. Find out more about the Awards in each of the local resorts from the other Visit Fylde Coast websites:
- Awards in Fleetwood
- Seaside Awards and Bathing Water Quality in Cleveleys
- Awards for Blackpool beaches
- Seaside Award in St Annes
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How Far We’ve Come!
Keith Ashcroft is Environment Agency Area Director. He said: “In 1988 only 18% of North West Bathing Waters met the minimum standards. Now, all 29 designated Bathing Waters in the North West meet the tough bathing water standards, showing how far the region has come. It demonstrates the huge amount of work and investment which has gone into cleaning up our coast. Our ambition is for North West bathing waters to be even cleaner and for our beaches to always meet and even go beyond, the standards.”
Before heading down to the beach, you’re advised to check the Environment Agency’s Swimfo website to check for any pollution risks as a result of rainfall, wind and high tides.
The North West coast was inundated with visitors who were unable to travel abroad during the pandemic. Having found the great British Coast, many have continued to return. While this is great news for local business and for people’s connection to nature, it also meant that the beaches suffered from people failing to take their litter home. There are also some safety concerns for people who are unfamiliar with tide times.
Working Together to Make Our Beaches Great!
There’s been a LOT of hard work and investment, from our local councils, the Environment Agency and United Utilities. Plus of course the many residents who take part in community beach cleans along the coastline on a regular basis.
A variety of initiatives have improved the quality of beaches and bathing waters. They include building new flood defences and sustainable drainage to reduce pollution from sewage systems. Plus work on agricultural land and surface water outfalls.
Things you can do to help at the Coast
You can also play a big part in improving beaches and bathing waters.
- Don’t drop litter,
- Please don’t feed the birds,
- Join beach cleans and, of course….
- Always pick up after your dogs.
- Always follow the dog control orders and keep your dog off bathing beaches in summer
Dog poo left on beaches pollutes bathing waters. If a bathing water sample were to be taken after a period of heavy soiling it could fail. For example a beautiful weekend with lots of dog walking.
Join a Beach Care Group
The litter and debris we see on the strandline is both what’s washed up from the seas and what’s been dropped on the shores.
A number of community groups on the coast carry out a regular programme of beach cleans (Covid permitting).
There’s the Friends of Lytham Estuary and The Fairhaven Coastal Care Group who work in the Fairhaven Lake area of St Annes. Rossall Beach Residents & Community Group clean the northern shingle beach off Cleveleys seafront.
Blackpool alone has more than 800 litter bins, including 250 large capacity bins just on the Promenade. They are emptied daily under normal conditions, and collections are increased whenever there is good weather and high visitor numbers. Reminders are in place to prompt everyone to get rid of their rubbish in the nearest available bin or take it home with them.
How you can Help at Home
- Think about what you flush at home – only flush the 3P’s (if you don’t already know, that’s pee, poo and paper!)
- Please put fats, oils and greases in the bin NOT down your drains!
Putting ‘rubbish’ like wet wipes down your toilet and using it as a bin can lead to the sewage system blocking up. Fats and oils combine with wipes and stuff to reduce the flow in sewage pipes. Eventually they block up – in the same way that cholesterol blocks your arteries.
All of this goo and rubbish sets together to create ‘fatbergs’. When the sewage system gets blocked with a combination of solidified fats and debris like wet wipes, the pipes narrow and then the system can’t cope with the volume of fluid. This means there is no choice but for sewage to overflow into rivers and ultimately the sea during periods of heavy rainfall.
Even worse, it also leads to flooding of streets and houses when the drainage system can’t cope. Imagine the lid lifting up on your nearest drain and a geyser of rainwater and sewage gushing out! Urgh!
How Bathing Waters have been Improved
Since 2011 the Fylde Peninsula Water Management Partnership has worked hard to look after Bathing Water Quality on the Fylde Coast.
The Partnership is made up of public and private sector companies. There’s been increased investment in the sewer network, as well as the creation of teams of volunteers and businesses to look after the quality of the Fylde Coast seas.
At the same time, the Turning Tides partnership in the North West is creating bathing waters that the region can be proud of. They’ve been working with key local authorities across the region, along with environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, United Utilities, Environment Agency and the National Farmers Union. This work all started with the Turning Tides Summit, back in 2012.
Reducing the impact of pollution
Since its inception in 2012, the partnership has helped reduce the impact of pollution in our sea water from inland, coastal and river sources, protecting bathing water quality and helping to sustain seaside economies.
In 1988, only 18% of the North West’s bathing waters met minimum standards for cleanliness. Now, all 31 bathing water sites in the North West have passed the tough new standards, with 12 being classified as ‘excellent’.
United Utilities has invested more than £600m along the Fylde Coast on schemes to capture and treat wastewater since the early 1990s. This included a huge storage tunnel system at Preston to improve the Ribble Estuary. £200m worth of infrastructure improvements have been carried out at north Blackpool alone, including the storm water storage tank and new outfall pipe at Anchorsholme Park.
Marine Litter and Plastics
Marine litter has huge consequences for wildlife and the habitat in which they live.
Entanglements in rubbish kill many birds, fish and mammals. This poor juvenile seagull was found in Cleveleys, entangled in fishing line and hooks.
Many more die because they have eaten so much plastic (having mistaken it for food) that they literally starve to death.
Plastics never disappear – they stay in the environment forever. Eventually they break down into micro-plastics and enter the food chain when they are eaten by microscopic organisms. Single use plastics are a nightmare – please try to use an alternative where you can.
In October 2020 and again in January 2021, a worrying plastic pollution incident happened on the Fylde Coast. On both occasions, millions of tiny plastic fragments washed up on the beach.
That’s why being careful with your litter, and litter picking, is so important.
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