Bridlington South Beach’s recent poor water quality rating has angered locals and left businesses fearing what impact it might have on the tourism trade, a councillor has said.
Bridlington South’s Cllr Tim Norman said the Environment Agency’s rating risked putting people off coming to one of the East Riding’s top tourist attractions amid an already difficult economic outlook.
He added he wanted action on water quality and more clarity about how long the rating would be in place as local traders gear up for the tourist season.
It comes as concerns grow the rating could remain for some time as the Environment Agency can only regrade bathing areas after causes are found and samples show improvements.
An Agency spokesperson said they were working closely with Yorkshire Water to establish the reason behind poor water quality there, with sampling and investigations ongoing.
The reason behind poor water quality meaning people are advised against swimming off Bridlington South Beach remains a mystery and neighbouring Bridlington North’s good rating makes pinpointing the cause harder.
Cllr Norman told LDRS the rating was already taking its toll, with Bridlington South Beach Boxing Day Charity Swim organisers up in arms over having to cancel it.
He added he was bringing his motion to East Riding Council’s full meeting next week to try and put pressure on the Environment Agency and Yorkshire Water to act.
The Yorkshire Party councillor said:
“I’m hoping my motion will mean that this issue remains among the Environment Agency’s and Yorkshire Water’s top priorities.
“Bridlington South Beach is a beautiful location, it’s one of the jewels in the crown of the East Riding.
“It brings people to the town, they come for the relaxation and to enjoy the Beach and they bring their kids who like to swim in the sea.
“Without the sea a lot of these families may go to Bridlington’s North Beach, or elsewhere to places like Hornsea.
“Hopefully they’ll stay in the East Riding, but there’s a lot of businesses who rely on those visitors who come and spend their pounds in the town.
“We’ve got a cafe for instance close to South Beach, they could potentially suffer, then there’s the guest houses and hotels.
“The issue is that this rating changes people’s perceptions of the Beach, if they look and see that it’s got a poor rating they may go elsewhere.
“It makes you wonder what’s happening, recently I saw that some shrimp had been washed up close to South Beach.
“I’m not sure what the reason was but I’ve been here 17 years and I’ve never seen that amount of shrimp on the beach before, so it makes you think about what the issue must be in the water.
“Around 10 years ago Yorkshire Water spend millions improving their infrastructure here.
“They told us it would get us a blue flag on South Beach and now we’ve got this rating.
“So I want the council to try and make the Environment Agency and Yorkshire Water step up and do something about this.
“This water quality rating could be in place for a long period of time at one of the biggest tourist attractions in the East Riding.”
The Environment Agency’s spokesperson said they knew there was much more work to be done to improve water quality at the beach.
The spokesperson said:
“Across Yorkshire, we have seen a rise in the number of excellent bathing waters – up by four in the last year, with 89 per cent of bathing waters rated as good or excellent – in line with last year’s results.
“We are working hard to protect and improve bathing waters by regulating and holding polluters to account but any drop in standards is disappointing.”
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