‘Brown flags’ awarded for West Country beaches

One site gave Cornwall’s Porthluney the unsavory praise for pollution levels – but a number from Somerset also feature in the Top 10

You may have heard of the Blue Flag, which rates the country’s cleanest and safest beaches – but there’s another flag on the way for three beaches in Somerset, and it’s a less welcome one.

A travel site, Holiday Park Guru, provides so-called “brown flags” for beaches with the highest levels of pollution.

At the top of the list is a beach in Cornwall – with Porthluney coming out as having the worst water quality levels.

But there’s better news for Cornwall – the same website also says 81% of our beaches are rated excellent for seawater cleanliness.

Here in the West Country, also in eighth place are Weston Main in Sand Bay Weston-super-Mare, as well as the Uphill Slipway, while slightly better (in ninth place) is Dunster Beach in Somerset.

The website says the brown flag is given to beaches that are rated water poor by the Environment Agency due to levels of e-coli from sewage and other waste, based on readings taken between May and September.

The full list of “winners” is:

1. Porthluney in Cornwall
2. Southsea East in Hampshire
3. Saint Mary’s Bay in Kent
4. Littlestone in Kent
5. Blackpool North in Lancashire
6. St Annes North in Lancashire
7. Heacham in Norfolk
8. Weston Main, Weston Super Mare Sand Bay and Weston Super Mare Uphill Slipway in Somerset
9. Dunster Beach in Somerset
10. Bognor Regis, Aldwick in Sussex
11. Tynemouth Cullercoats in Tyne and Wear
12. Scarborough South Bay in North Yorkshire
13. Bridlington South Beach in the East Riding of Yorkshire

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