Sedgemoor District Council’s new Chairman, Cllr Peter Clayton, has received a coveted ‘Seaside Award’ from national campaign group Keep Britain Tidy in recognition of the council’s management of Berrow beach.
Keep Britain Tidy awards its prestigious Seaside Awards to the best beaches around the UK – and Berrow has won for several years, as we first reported here last week.
A ceremony has been held on Berrow beach for the award flag to be handed over to Sedgemoor District Council, which manages the beach.
Council Chairman Peter Clayton, who took on his new role last week, received the award flag alongside the council’s Resorts Manager Graham Newing, pictured here.
Claire Faun, spokeswoman for Sedgemoor District Council, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “Berrow joins the country’s very best beaches, from popular holiday spots to quiet, more hidden-away spots. What unites them all is knowing that they are clean, safe and meet the highest environmental standards, as well as the tough international bathing water quality standards.”
“Berrow Beach can provide a wonderful day out for the family. It is an exceptional beach with sand dunes, picnic areas, and both lifeguards and beach wardens providing safety cover and advice.”
The Friends of Berrow Beach do a fantastic job in carrying out regular beach cleans to keep the sand and dunes as clean as possible year-round.
Keep Britain Tidy says 190 awards have been given to England’s very best beaches, including 65 international Blue Flags and 125 Seaside Awards – eight more than last year – with 42 beaches achieving both awards.
As Burnham-On-Sea has a ‘poor’ bathing water quality classification from the EU, the town has been told it cannot win one of the awards. A project is underway to clean up Burnham beach and improve the sea water quality in the wake of the more stringent new EU regulations coming into force three years ago.
