Northumberland's beaches praised for cleanliness, whilst England's dirtiest beaches get Brown Flags

Dorset, Devon and Suffolk have the highest percentage of 'excellent' beaches for clean water, according to UK travel site Holiday Park Guru, which analysed Environment Agency summer water quality data from hundreds of beaches.

Northumberland is ranked 6th out of 19 counties in the league table.

The nation's 13 dirtiest beaches are being offered 'Brown Flag Awards' - including beaches in Blackpool (Blackpool North Beach), Weston Super Mare (Weston Main Beach) and Bognor Regis (Aldwick).

The 'winners' are being offered complimentary brown flags featuring a poo emoji to display for swimmers.These beaches are rated as 'poor' by the Environment Agency due to bacteria such as e-coli from sewage and other waste.

None of Northumberland's beaches have been awarded Brown Flag Awards for 2024. In fact, Northumberland is one of only a handful of counties where all the beaches are rated either 'excellent' or 'good'.

Lancashire came bottom of England's league table with none of its ten designated bathing spots achieving the coveted three-star ‘excellent’ rating for cleanliness. Somerset, Norfolk, Yorkshire and Kent were all in the bottom half of the league table.

The Isle of Wight, Lincolnshire and Essex performed well, with all of their designated bathing areas gaining one of the top two ratings (‘good’ or ‘excellent’).

Keen sea-swimmer, Robbie Lane from Holiday Park Guru said:

“We’re hoping to make a real splash in the papers with the launch of England’s first ever 'Brown Flag Awards'! Commiserations to our 13 winners this year – you really are top of the plops. We just hope they’ll take up our offer of a free brown flag, although I’m afraid we can’t quite afford to provide a flagpole as well.”

“On a more positive note, high praise is warranted for England's 273 beaches with the top rating for their water quality - including 10 beaches in Northumberland. You can find a full list of all the three star swimming spots at Holiday Park Guru. With a bit of research, there's a good chance you will be the only thing floating in the sea this summer!"

It is worth noting that the Environment Agency only includes water quality readings from 15th May to 30th September when giving ratings to bathing areas. Sea water quality tends to be worse in winter after heavy rain.

Whilst Holiday Park Guru's 'Brown Flag Awards' uses official Environment Agency data, it does not have any official link with the Environment Agency or any other awards. It is intended as a tongue-in-cheek award to support the campaign for cleaner beaches.

The Brown Flag Awards Winners 2024

The Brown Flag Awards are reserved for those select beaches which score a ‘poor’ rating from the Environment Agency’s water quality tests:

1. Porthluney in Cornwall
2. Southsea East in Hampshire
3. Saint Mary’s Bay in Kent
4. Littlestone in Kent
5. Blackpool North in Lancashire
6. St Annes North in Lancashire
7. Heacham in Norfolk
8. Weston Main, Weston Super Mare Sand Bay and Weston Super Mare Uphill Slipway in Somerset
9. Dunster Beach in Somerset
10. Bognor Regis, Aldwick in Sussex
11. Tynemouth Cullercoats in Tyne and Wear
12. Scarborough South Bay in North Yorkshire
13. Bridlington South Beach in East Riding of Yorkshire

Weston Super Mare’s three water quality reading locations all rated poor but they have just been awarded one Brown Flag Award.

County by county league table for clean beaches

For the 2024 county league table Holiday Park Guru analysed data at every designated bathing beach in England. The study looked at the percentage of beaches in each county that achieved the Environment Agency’s top rating for water cleanliness (three stars = “excellent”).

It is hoped that it will help UK holidaymakers understand how likely they are to be swimming in a seaside resort with excellent quality bathing water.

Percentage of beaches rated 'excellent' by the Environment Agency for sea water cleanliness. From best to worst:

1. Dorset: 89%
2. Devon: 86%
3. Suffolk: 83%
4. Cornwall: 81%
5. Tyne and Wear: 78%
6. Northumberland: 77%
7. Lincolnshire: 77%
8. Hampshire and New Forest: 75%
9. Isle of Wight: 73%
10. Merseyside: 57%
11. Essex: 53%
12. Sussex: 52%
13. Cumbria: 50%
14. Norfolk: 50%
15. Kent: 45%
16. Yorkshire: 40%
17. County Durham: 16%
18. Somerset: 10%
19. Lancashire 0%

(N.b. some counties have been combined for the table, such as East and West Sussex)

How was the data gathered for the Brown Flag Awards?

Holiday Park Guru used Environment Agency data based on “7,000 samples at...424 bathing waters in England” which is ‘calculated annually based on samples from the previous four years”. (Source: Environment Agency). They excluded rivers and lakes and just focused on beaches.

The water quality readings look for intestinal enterococci and escherichia coli (e-coli) levels to see whether there is ‘faecal matter’ in the water. This comes from ‘sewage, agricultural livestock, wildlife, birds and road drainage’ according to the Environment Agency.

Each bathing resort then receives an official Environment Agency score of: three stars (excellent), two stars (good), one star (sufficient) or zero stars (poor). Overall, 66.4% of England’s monitored resorts currently score a three star rating whilst 4.3% score zero stars.

Water quality readings are only taken from 15th May-30th September. During the winter, water quality tends to be lower along England’s coastline as higher rainfall causes more sewage and waste water to overflow into the sea and into rivers.

Holiday Park Guru is an independent blog which mostly focuses on UK staycations. It has sister sites called Isle of Wight Guru and The Sleep Guy.