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Wales Online

Entertainment

Eve Rowlands

One man's campaign has just won a Welsh beach official wild swimming status

Penarth James Richardson Natural Resources Wales

A beach in Penarth has received official status as a bathing water site, thanks to a campaign run by keen outdoor swimmer and local events director, James Tennet. The 35-year-old, who lives in the seaside town, began swimming outdoors at the start of lockdown.

He initially used Penarth beach before turning to neighbouring waters in Barry, which he discovered was a designated site. He said: “I'd seen one or two people swimming [in Penarth], but not many. So I tried to do a bit of digging about what the water quality was. And that's when I realised it wasn't a designated bathing water.

“There was no record or any tests of the [quality of the] water going on. From digging, it took me to the Natural Resources Wales website, which shows you where all the designated bathing waters are - I realised there were three in Barry. So because of that, for quite a while, I was swimming in Barry more than Penarth, for peace of mind and knowing what the water quality was. But for me, obviously, being able to swim locally will be much easier. I'll be able to do it a bit more often.”

James Tennet is a keen swimmer (James Tennet)

After finding out anyone can apply for a beach to have this official status, he got the ball rolling with the help of Penarth outdoor swimming community, Dawnstalkers. Setting up user surveys, providing information about facilities at the site and evidence of a consultation with local residents, with proof of large numbers of people swimming there. This proof was overwhelming in Dawnstalkers’ community, who have a following of almost 9000 on Instagram, and many people gathering on the shores of Penarth to swim each morning.

Penarth has recently received status as a bathing water (James Richardson @halfwit0.5)

“The campaign was great because they just have the following and all the people to support it. Once the application is accepted then it's an open public consultation. So they really helped with that and getting people to respond. And we ended up with about 400 people responding.”

The breadth of the responses he received spurred him even further to help Penarth beach get recognition as it seemed no-one knew what the quality of the water in which they were swimming actually was. Now, however, thanks to James’ campaign, from May to September, which is deemed bathing season, Natural Resources Wales will test for water quality regularly, for two types of bacteria - E. coli and intestinal enterococci. The waters will then be given a rating as to how sufficient the site is for swimming.

According to the outdoor swimming society: “The local council must display information, online and on signs at Bathing Waters, about water quality and pollution sources during the bathing season.”

A sunrise dip (James Richardson @halfwit0.5)

So, what does this official recognition mean?

The government website states: “A bathing water is a coastal or inland water that attracts a large number of bathers in relation to any infrastructure or facilities that are provided, or other measures that are taken, to promote bathing at the site. There’s no set limit for how many bathers are needed for a site to be identified as a bathing water. A bathing water could be a coastal water in a large resort or a smaller site attracting a large number of bathers for its size.”

Why is it important to have this?

Keen outdoor swimmer and co-founder of Penarth’s community of sea swimmers Dawnstalkers, Lene Hops, says of this campaign win: “As a community, it now means that we get the certainty that it’s ok to swim there - that is if the water is tested positively. If it's good quality, we’ll just be more reassured we can still swim there.”

Beaches in Wales that have designated bathing water status: