Blue Flag Award Winners 2018

Summer is within reach; we can almost taste it! Time to round up the kids, pack up the car and - not forgetting your beach changing robe- head to the beach. If you're wondering which beach to head to, then you'll be pleased to know that the Blue Flag winners have recently been announced. 

The Blue Flag programme, for those of you who don't know, is a programme that is dedicated to ensuring environmental standards are adhered to the world over and that beaches are not only clean but safe as well. Beaches are judged on four categories: environmental education, environmental management, safety and water quality. 

Under environmental education things such as offering environmental educational activities, displaying information about bathing water quality and having a map of the beach with facilities being displayed are some of the criteria covered.  For environmental management there should be a beach management committee, all laws and regulations should be adhered to and the beach must be clean. Under safety, some of the areas covered are public safety methods, first aid equipment, pollution risks and drinking water.  For water quality, unsurprisingly, the criteria focus on water quality sampling and analysis.

What the Blue Flag awards do is to set a standard for beaches, which really helps in the effort to keep them clean of the things that damage our environment - such as plastic and litter. If you head for a Blue Flag Beach, then you are heading for a beach that is not only free from litter but has a high standard of water quality and excellent facilities too.

The Awards were launched in 1987 when only twelve English beaches were awarded this status, but we have come a long way since then. This year, 65 beaches in the UK were awarded Blue Flag status and they are:

South West - 26 Blue Flag Awards

Alum Chine

Blackpool Sands

Breakwater Beach

Branksome Chine, Poole

Canford Cliffs, Poole

Carbis Bay

Chellaborough Bay

Dawlish Warren

Durley Chine

Fishermans Walk

Great Western

Gyllngvase

Meadfoot Beach

Oddicome Beach

Polzeath

Porthmeor

Porthtowan

Sandy Bay

Sandbanks Peninsular, Poole

Shore Road, Poole

Southbourne

Swanage Central

Trevone Bay

Westwood Ho

Weymouth Central

Widemouth Bay

South East - 15 Blue Flag Awards

Botany Bay

Brighton Central

Hayling Island Beachlands

Hove Lawns

Leysdown Beach

Margate Main Sands

Marina St Leonards

Minnis Bay

Minster Leas

Sheerness Beach

St Mildreds

Stone Bay

Tankerton

West Bay

West Wittering Bay

East of England - 12 Blue Flag Awards

Brightlingsea

Cromer

Dovercourt Bay

East Beach Shoeburyness

East Runton

Mundesley

Sea Palling

Sheringham

Shoebury Common

Southwold Pier

Thorpe Bay

West Runton

East Midlands - 4 Blue Flag Awards

Central Beach, Mablethorpe

Central Beach, Skegness

Central Beach, Sutton on Sea

Ingoldmells South

North East - 6 Blue Flag Awards

King Edwards Bay

Roker

Sandhaven Bay

Seaburn

Tynemouth Longsands

Whitley Bay

North West - 1 Blue Flag Award

Blackpool South

Yorkshire

Whitby 

If you are heading out to the beach this summer and want to make sure that it is a Blue Flag beach, then you should use this handy interactive map from Keep Britain Tidy. Oh and don’t forget your booicore!