Kent is spoilt for choice when it comes to beaches, with nine making it into a list of the world’s best by gaining a Blue Flag award.

But what exactly goes into gaining this ‘gold standard’? Reporter Sean McPolin finds out...

History

Originally started in France in 1987 by the Foundation for Environment and Education (FEE), the Blue Flag scheme was a way to promote sustainable development in freshwater and marine areas by challenging local authorities and beach operators to achieve the highest standards.

Two years later many other countries in Europe picked up and adopted it, including the UK in 1989, to improve theirs.

It became an internationally recognised award in 2001 when South Africa joined.

Environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, which administers the Blue Flag scheme and runs the Seaside Awards in the UK, says they are the quality marks for beaches and mean visitors can be sure they are clean, safe and meet the highest environmental criteria, as well as the tough international bathing water quality standards.

Tankerton, Sheerness, Leysdown, Minster Leas, Minnis Bay, West Bay, St Mildreds, Margate Main Sandas and Stone Bay were the Kent beaches to collect a Blue Flag award last week - among 4,671 beaches in 47 countries to receive one in 2021.

Criteria

There are four main criteria needed to secure a Blue Flag: water quality, environmental management, environmental education and safety.

To meet the high standards of the FEE in terms of environmental education there must be at least one information in board in place on a beach.

For long beaches there should be one board every 500m which include nine bits of information essential to meeting the criteria.

These include information on the Blue Flag programme and FFE eco-label, the environmentally friendly activities offered, information about water quality, details on any eco-systems such as wetland areas or natural habitats, a map of the beach and its facilities and a code of conduct and rules to make beach users aware of what is acceptable or not.

Water quality is one of the most important criteria for a successful journey to getting a Blue Flag.

An independent inspector visits the beach to take a sample of water from at least one sampling site where the number of bathers is at its highest.

Samples are taken 30cm below the surface of the water, no more than 30 days apart during the Blue Flag season, which runs from May to September.

This means a minimum of five samples should be taken out evenly during the season.

If there are any "potential sources of pollution" such as streams, rivers or storm drains, another sample must be taken there.

When samples are collected they are taken to an independent laboratory for analysis.

There are laboratories in Medway and Sevenoaks which are used to test the level of pollution in Kent waters.

Then they will be sent to the FEE alongside the results for the previous four seasons.

The tests look for the prevalence of the bacteria E.Coli and Intestinal Enterococci, which can cause sickness if ingested.

The water quality of each sample is assessed as either ‘Excellent’, ‘Good’, ‘Sufficient’ or ‘Poor’. An ‘Excellent’ rating for E.Coli is anything below a reading of 250 bacterial cells per 100ml, while anything above 1,000 cells is ‘Poor’.

For Intestinal Enterococci a rating of lower than 100 cells per 100ml will get you top marks, while more than 250 is the worst you can get.

In terms of criteria needed to pass the environmental management aspect of the awards, local authorities should set up a beach management committee to help and should consist of any "relevant stakeholders", such as councillors, hotel managers, lifeguards and educational representatives.

These committees are required to look after all aspects of the beaches, from waste-water to the management of beach facilities, such as having an adequate amount of toilets.

It must also help work with any nearby "sensitive areas" such as conservation areas. These sensitive areas can even be detrimental to a beach being able to secure a Blue Flag award as the organisation will weigh up whether or not an increase number of visitors will affect wildlife in the area.

Keeping the beach clean is one of the biggest criteria of this section and it is up to the committee to make sure paths, parking areas and access to the beach is clean and there are enough waste and recyling bins at their site.

The final section of criteria needed is to keep beaches safe.

This includes the award-winning locations to have an appropriate number of lifeguards, with a minimum of two every 200m, first aid equipment and disabled access.

Keep beaches clean

This year 76 Blue Flag awards were handed out, including in Kent, thanks to the hard work of local councils and volunteers who dedicate their time to keeping them clean.

Swale council, which has three award-winning sites, thanked all the people who have taken time out of their day to keep their beaches tidy.

Cllr Julian Saunders, cabinet member for environment, said: “This is a fantastic achievement that is a great reward for the hard work the small, but dedicated, seafront team put in - rain or shine - all year round.

“The past year has been a tough one and officers and volunteer teams have worked hard to keep our bathing beaches up to an excellent standard.

“We’ve had support from a number of local volunteer groups who added litter picking to their daily exercise, and the RNLI Sheerness Lifeboat and Sheppey Coastguard volunteers have been invaluable in helping to keep people safe. Especially as we didn’t have as many lifeguards as normal last year.

'We found that around 30 to 40% of litter comes from the public, 13% from fishing litter and around 4% from shipping...'

“All this hard work has helped us meet the excellent standard required for the Blue Flag, and will show visitors that local beaches are clean and safe, and meet the highest environmental and bathing water quality standards.”

One of Swale’s beaches, Leysdown, had lost its Blue Flag status two years ago but worked alongside Southern Water and its £5million bathing water enhancement programme to improve the quality of water at the beach. This included fixing misconnected pipes polluting watercourses, installing signage to encourage dog owners to clean up after their pets and various measures to reduce the impact of birds on water quality.

As a result, it regained the prestigious award this year.

The Marine Conservation Society helps volunteers conduct regular beach cleans across the UK, including all over Kent, to keep track of the water quality and amount if rubbish found on our beaches.

Lauren Eyles runs the society's Beach Watch programme which relies on people in Kent to pick up their litter picks and clean up and record the litter they collect.

She said: "It's a citizen science project which relies on volunteers to organise events in the area, pick litter and then report it back to us so we can which type of litter is most common and then work to try and stop this.

"When we broke it down we found that around 30 to 40% of litter comes from the public, 13% from fishing litter and around 4% from shipping."

The 37-year-old explained the organisation has been collecting data for nearly three decades and that attitudes towards littering has improved.

She continued: "We saw a huge shift after the launch of Blue Planet 2 in 2017 in the general awareness and attitudes toward litter which switched.

"It was like a light was turned on for many people. Previously people would ask what I was doing when picking litter up from the beaches but now people are having those conversations about it more and getting involved. People's desire to want to do something about it has definitely changed."

Lauren explained the best way to get involved and help keep beaches clean and help them on their way to a Blue Flag award is to get involved with the MCS beach clean programme, which you can sign up for by clicking here.

The society is also holding a week-long Great British Beach Clean from September 17 to September 26.

Keep Britain Tidy chief executive Allison Ogden-Newton OBE said: "This year, more than ever, we are going to be relying on our country’s beautiful beaches to escape for a much-needed break after all the stresses and strains of the past year.

"Last year, due to the pandemic, we did not have the opportunity to celebrate all the great award-winning beaches around the coast so this year we are delighted to have even more winners than we did in 2019, thanks to the incredible work of the teams around the country that make our beaches clean and safe for us all to enjoy.

"From environmental education for the community and ensuring responsible beach use, to cleaning regimes and an increasing number of recycling facilities, it is a full-time commitment to create beaches worthy of these awards.

"As many of us plan our 2021 holidays much closer to home, thanks to the Blue Flag and Seaside Award those choosing to holiday in South East near one of its award-winning beaches can be assured it will be clean and safe and meet the highest standards for water quality and management."

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