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 Wear
Littlehaven Beach, Tyne and Wear (new designation)
Scarborough South Bay, North Yorkshire
Bridlington South Beach, East Riding of Yorkshire
Wharfe at Cromwheel, Ilkley, West Yorkshire
Nidd at the Lido, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire (new designation)
Wharfe at Wilderness Carpark, West Yorkshire (new designation)
Heacham, Norfolk
Sheep’s Green, River Cam, Cambridgeshire (new designation)
Wolvercote Mill Stream, Oxfordshire
Wallingford Beach, River Thames, Oxfordshire (new designation)
Deal Castle, Kent
Dymchurch, Kent
Littlestone, Kent
Worthing Beach House, West Sussex (new designation)
Bognor Regis (Aldwick), West Sussex
Southsea East, Hampshire
River 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, Cornwall
Dunster Beach, Somerset
Blue Anchor West, Somerset
River Tone at French Weir Park, Somerset (new designation)
Weston-super-Mare Uphill Slipway, North Somerset
Weston Main, North Somerset
Weston-super-Mare Sand Bay, North Somerset
River 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, Lancashire
Blackpool North, Lancashire
Coniston Water, Boating Centre, Cumbria (new designation)
Derwent Water at Crow Park, Cumbria (new designation)
River Ribble at Edisford Bridge, Lancashire (new designation)
