National campaign group Keep Britain Tidy has presented Berrow beach with a coveted ‘Seaside Award’, but Burnham-On-Sea’s beach has missed out this year.
Keep Britain Tidy awards its prestigious Seaside Awards to the best beaches around the UK.
News of Berrow’s award has been welcomed by Sedgemoor District Council, which manages the beach. Its Chairman, Cllr Cllr Ian Dyer, formally received the award flag on Thursday.
While Burnham’s beach is not on the awards list this year, a project is underway to clean-up the beach and sea water following the introduction of more stringent new EU regulations this year.
Burnham’s Coastal Officer Harriet Yates-Smith is running the independent community campaign called Litter Free Coast and Sea Somerset, a project led by the Severn Estuary Partnership.
She wants to harness Burnham’s community spirit to reduce marine litter and improve the bathing water quality by encouraging people to consider and reduce their own impacts on water quality through targeted campaigns, events and education.
It comes after Burnham’s popular beach suffered a ‘poor’ rating last November after stricter new EU bathing water quality standards came into force, even though local councillors and tourism bosses have pointed out that the sea water quality has not worsened – it’s only the method of surveying it that has changed.
Sedgemoor spokeswoman Claire Faun said: “At a time when more and more people are choosing to holiday in the UK, the growth of visitors, alongside residents, enjoying our delightful and dramatic coastline has highlighted not only the demand but the continued importance of presenting and retaining clean, attractive and well-managed beaches.”
“Although Seaside Award beaches can often be very different, they are a symbol of quality which guarantees to residents and visitors that the beach is one of the best in the country.”
