Proposal to remove Allonby South from the list of designated bathing waters

Overview

The Bathing Water Regulations protect bathers' health at popular beaches and inland waters by requiring water quality to be monitored for intestinal enterococci and E.coli during the bathing season, which in England runs from 15 May to 30 September. The Regulations apply to waters that are used by a large number of bathers and where bathing is supported and promoted by the local authority or private owner. There are currently 410 beaches and 12 lakeside sites in England that are designated as bathing waters.

A bathing water can be de-designated if there is evidence that usage has declined and it is no longer used by a large number of bathers. If this happens, sampling for compliance with the Bathing Water Regulations' water quality standards would cease and there would be no further investment specifically directed at meeting these standards. There would no longer be a legal requirement for public information about water quality to be provided.

Other measures are in place to protect the water environment generally, including the Urban Waste Water Treatment (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2003, the Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) Regulations 2017 and the Marine Strategy Regulations 2010.

Why your views matter

Allerdale Borough Council has applied for Allonby South to be removed from the list of designated bathing waters on the grounds of low usage for bathing. There is evidence over several years that the beach is seldom used for bathing, including a survey carried out by the Council on 29 days between May and September 2017, when no-one was seen swimming or paddling in the water. There are no facilities at the beach; the car park and public toilets were damaged by flooding in 2009 and currently there are no plans to repair them.

The evidence for de-designating Allonby South as a bathing water is set out in the consultation document and we would welcome your views on the proposal to remove the beach from the list of designated bathing waters. 

If you would like to keep in contact with us to express interest in this, or any other Defra consultation, please give us your details through the link below

https://gov.smartwebportal.co.uk/defra/public/webform.asp?id=108&id2=1D06F7

What happens next

When this consultation ends, the decision on whether to remove Allonby South from the list of designated bathing waters will be made by Defra Ministers. We will place a summary of the responses and the Minister's decision on the bathing water page of the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bathing-waters