Progress Hailed in Tackling Scarborough's Bathing Water Quality Issues

North Yorkshire Council leader, Councillor Carl Les, has expressed hope that significant progress is being made toward solving persistent bathing water quality issues affecting the coast, following a critical summit meeting held last week.

The meeting, which was the latest in a series spanning over a year, brought together the council, the Environment Agency, Yorkshire Water, and other key partners to discuss strategies for improving coastal water quality.

Cllr Les feels the four summit meetings over the last year have been effective and says the input of a seaweed expert has helped shine a light on the possible cause of teh water quality issues.

“The meeting that we had was actually the fourth one and when we started out at the with the first one over a year ago now I wondered what the success was going to be because we were bringing people together who up to that point were saying it's not our problem or it's not our fault.

But we got people together in a room and actually found that there was some common ground there.

We weren't there to beat people up with a big stick. We were there to try and find a solution to a problem but we had to identify exactly what that problem was in the first place which is where Professor Grocke came in,”

Expert Evidence Pinpoints Pollution Source

The council confirmed that the recent summit reviewed outcomes from two of the most in-depth studies to date into the issues affecting North Yorkshire’s coastal bathing water. 

For almost two years, Professor Darren Gröcke, director of the Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry Laboratory at Durham University, has been leading a comprehensive seaweed study on behalf of the council.

Through nitrogen isotope analysis of more than 3,000 samples taken between Hayburn Wyke and Filey, Professor Gröcke’s findings show values linked to animal manure and human sewage as the dominant contributor to nitrogen pollution. 

Critically, the council believes this expert evidence compellingly suggests that Scalby Beck could be significantly impacting bathing water quality in Scarborough’s North and South Bays. The study specifically indicates Scalby Beck as the source of nitrogen pollution, which marine currents subsequently carry south towards Scarborough's South Bay.

Cllr Les explained how the expert evidence was gathered:

“Seaweed can capture evidence of what is going wrong. They did sampling all along the coast from just north of of the Scarborough area down to Filey and the results that they found were were very interesting.

It has proved now we think there is a problem with the outfall from Scalby Beck and Hayburn Wyke. So we're going to have some further investigations.

The encouraging thing from bringing partners together into that room and sharing the problem and not pointing fingers is that Yorkshire Water have now said if we're causing part of that problem, we were going to do some investment in that area anyway. We can look at advancing that investment project so that we can actually deal with this problem sooner.”

North Yorkshire Council is now actively backing further investigations by Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency to improve bathing water in Scarborough. The Environment Agency’s own independent study also identified several possible causes impacting water quality, including issues at Scalby Beck, and advised further investigation.

The council leader emphasised the necessity of focusing immediate efforts on the identified cause:

“It is clear to see from the summit that we need to focus our attention on Scalby Beck, come up with a number of achievable solutions and make sure that actions are delivered to improve bathing water in Scarborough for generations to come,” 

Partner Commitment and National Context

The North Yorkshire Council leader noted that cooperation among partners is leading to tangible commitments, including from Yorkshire Water, which has invested £2.8 million at Wheatcroft to reduce sewer overflow discharges. Yorkshire Water is also planning further investment in Scarborough.

Cllr Les acknowledged the investment made by other local businesses, noting that earlier conjecture had suggested the McCain’s outfall from their chip factory was contributing to the problem.

“There was some conjecture at the time that the McCain's outfall from their their chip factory was actually causing part of the problem.

They've actually spent a lot of money and I think we should be very mindful and grateful to McCains for actually doing that investment and they have cleaned up that part of the of the area and they've helped to sponsor along with the council professor Grocke's work,” 

Richard Flinton, North Yorkshire Council’s chief executive, underlined the complexity of the issue, stating that coastal pollution involves a "multitude of contaminants" and requires further research, particularly in the Scalby Beck area. Mr Flinton added that clean, safe bathing water is crucial for communities, and partners must now work together to address potential issues and improve water quality in Scarborough once and for all.

Cllr Les concluded by positioning the local efforts within a broader national context:

“It isn't good for a coastal resort and I think water quality across the country is not as good as it as it could be and I think you know that there needs to be a national debate about that about you know who's responsible who should be putting investment in and and where improvements need to be made and it's not just on the coast it's in our rivers and it's in our lakes.”