New figures show one in 12 English bathing waters failed water quality testing and were rated “poor” this year, around 8% of all those monitored.
They account for 4.5% of beaches, rivers and lakes that were already designated as official bathing sites before the 2024 season, and 18 of the 27 sites newly designated this year (67%), which had not been previously sampled or managed as bathing waters.
Here is a full list of the 37 bathing sites which were rated poor in the 2024 assessment:
Tynemouth Cullercoats, Tyne and WearLittlehaven Beach, Tyne and Wear (new designation)Scarborough South Bay, North YorkshireBridlington South Beach, East Riding of YorkshireWharfe at Cromwheel, Ilkley, West YorkshireNidd at the Lido, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire (new designation)Wharfe at Wilderness Carpark, West Yorkshire (new designation)Heacham, NorfolkSheep’s Green, River Cam, Cambridgeshire (new designation)Wolvercote Mill Stream, OxfordshireWallingford Beach, River Thames, Oxfordshire (new designation)Deal Castle, KentDymchurch, KentLittlestone, KentWorthing Beach House, West Sussex (new designation)Bognor Regis (Aldwick), West SussexSouthsea East, HampshireRiver Avon at Fordingbridge, Hampshire (new designation)Lyme Regis Church Cliff Beach, Dorset (new designation)Steamer Quay, Dart Estuary, Devon (new designation)Coastguards Beach, Erme Estuary, Devon (new designation)Porthluney, CornwallDunster Beach, SomersetBlue Anchor West, SomersetRiver Tone at French Weir Park, Somerset (new designation)Weston-super-Mare Uphill Slipway, North SomersetWeston Main, North SomersetWeston-super-Mare Sand Bay, North SomersetRiver Frome at Farleigh Hungerford, Somerset (new designation)River Teme in Ludlow, Shropshire (new designation)River Severn at Ironbridge, Shropshire (new designation)River Severn in Shrewsbury, Shropshire (new designation)St Annes North, LancashireBlackpool North, LancashireConiston Water, Boating Centre, Cumbria (new designation)Derwent Water at Crow Park, Cumbria (new designation)River Ribble at Edisford Bridge, Lancashire (new designation)
