Sheppey beaches receive top awards

Highest rating received at 3 Sheppey beaches.

The Islands bathing beaches have been given the highest rating for bathing water quality.

Leysdown, Minster Leas & Sheerness beaches were all rated as “Excellent” by the Environment Agency, who sampled the water quality of the beaches throughout the summer.

The results mean Leysdown could be in the running to join Minster and Sheerness with a prestigious Blue Flag Award next year, which it last held in 2016.

Cllr David Simmons, cabinet member for the environment and rural affairs at Swale council, said: “Our local beaches are fantastic assets that are enjoyed by locals and visitors alike, and their continuing appeal helps contribute to the Island’s economy.

“The ratings reflect the hard work that has gone in to keeping our waterfronts clean, and we are very proud to once again hold ‘excellent’ status across all our beaches.

“Leysdown regaining its top rating shows the work being done is having an impact, but we will continue to work with partners such as Southern Water to do what we can to maintain these high standards in the long term.”

This is the third year where new stricter assessments are used, based on the current and previous three years of sample data (80 samples) that are assessed against four new and stricter classifications of poor (failure to meet minimum requirement), sufficient, good and excellent.

To find out more about local beaches, visit http://www.swale.gov.uk/seafront.

The ratings are available at http://environment.data.gov.uk/bwq/profiles