A campaign by the pollution watchdog group, Surfers Against Sewage, which saw brown flags being placed on potentially contaminated Blue Flag beaches, has finally come to a head with Keep Britain Tidy admitting changes need to be made.
The investigations by SAS found that 35 of the UK’s Blue Flag beaches were not informing the public of subsequent sewage spills. The lack of transparency indicates that those beaches should not be classified as Blue Flag since the polluted water could cause illness.
Although Keep Britain Tidy, the regulator of Blue Flag beaches in Britain, believes all the beaches awarded Blue Flag status comply with the full criterion, they are willing to re-evaluate their requirements. As part of the re-evaluation of beaches, the organisation will improve their knowledge of combined sewer overflow discharges in the vicinity of Blue Flag beaches and investigate whether further controls are needed.
They propose to develop a framework within which certain beaches can only be awarded a Blue Flag if there is a mechanism for real time notification of certain discharge spills, allowing posting of public warning notices within a specified period of time.
The proposals by Keep Britain Tidy are hoped to have effect from May 2011 when the next Blue Flag applications are made.
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