It has been confirmed on 12 January 2023 that Saltburn has lost it’s prestigious blue flag award after four consecutive years.
The criteria for reaching an excellent standard is based on the quality of the bathing water – which collects data from the environment agency, along with other criteria known as:
- Kept clean
- Free of litter and waste
- Availability of public toilets
- Lifeguard patrols and accessibility
Saltburn’s beach was the only beach in the local area to have the blue flag, however Keep Britain Tidy have confirmed that it is unable to apply in 2023 and has lost it’s status.
It can however regain it’s status again in 2024 as the award period for showing the blue flag runs from the middle of May to final day of September.
Local cabinet member, Steve Kay who’s responsibility lies with the health and welfare of Redcar and Cleveland council said “there was no evidence to suggest sewage was to blame”.
This was mentioned after it was reported that the renovations to the car park extension had caused environmental issues with the sea.
Steve Kay went on to comment:
“There was no specific cause given for the drop from ‘excellent’, but many environmental factors can affect the results, such as rainfall, agriculture and livestock, as well as things such as run-off from road drainage,”
It is also reported that in August 2022 a sample had found that there were high levels of bacteria such as enterococci, which is found in human intestines, and e-coli in the sea.
