Beaches in South West continue to be at a high standard

A record 98.8% of designated bathing waters around England now meet minimum requirements. Only five sites failed to meet these basic standards. There has been a massive improvement in English bathing waters over recent years. In the early 1990s less than a third of England's beaches reached the toughest standards.

In the South West, good news for Somerset beaches where Clevedon Beach and Blue Anchor West have met the top quality standards for the first time, while Sand Bay in Weston-super-Mare has met the top quality standard for two years running.

Durdle Door, in Dorset, is a consistent high flyer with a record of meeting top quality standards for more than ten years.

While in Devon Plymouth Hoe, despite a number of failures in the 1990s, has recently met top quality standards. Ilfracombe Tunnels Beach has also improved and has met the top quality standards for the last six years.

In Cornwall, the popular surfing beaches at Fistral beach and Bude, both continue their good record of meeting the top quality standards.

Environment Minister, Elliot Morley said: "This is good news for those who enjoy going for a swim at the beach and is also a boost to seaside tourism. These excellent results show that the £1 billion that has been spent in improving sewage treatment over the last ten years has paid off. But there is still work to do. Over the next 5 years further improvements are planned across England at sewage treatment works and overflows - bringing yet more benefits to bathing waters.

"The next big challenge is diffuse water pollution, particularly from farming, which can still affect the quality of bathing water at some of our beaches. We will be working closely with farmers and others to improve farming practices."

This year's improvements in bathing water quality will prepare us for a revised EU bathing water directive - which will result in even higher water quality standards and greater protection of public health. The agreement that was reached in October 2005, led by the UK Presidency of the EU, will tighten health standards for bathing water, provide better information to the public whilst also reducing red tape.

Coastal Bathing Waters (Results for 2004 are in brackets)

Regions * Pass Fail Total Compliance %
South West 189 (187) 1 (3) 190 (190) 99.5 (98.4)

England 400 (397) 5 (7) 405(404) 98.8 (98.3)

UK Inland Waters 11 (11) 0 (0) 11 (11) 100 (100)

(* Environment Agency English operational regions)
Summary of guideline compliance results for coastal bathing waters in South West

Coastal Bathing Waters (Results for 2004 are in brackets)

Regions * Pass Fail Total Compliance %
South West 155 (154) 35 (36) 190 (190) 81.6 (81.1)

England 303 (275) 102 (129) 405(404) 74.8(68.1)