Sea off Bognor 'dirtiest in UK'

The town's east beach has lost its coveted Blue Flag status for 2008 because of the poor quality of its water.

The news is a blow to the tourism trade.

But the situation is set to get even worse, the Observer can reveal.

The criteria used to assess whether sea water is clean enough to qualify for a Blue Flag is changing under a European Union directive.

The changes begin next year and last until 2015 and will raise the standards which an area will need to meet to be able to fly the flag.

Water watchdog the Environment Agency and the government's Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs have predicted how each seaside resort will fare under the new system.

The forecast has labelled Bognor's water quality based on the presence of bacteria as the worst possible under the new rules. The poor rating places the town in the bottom group of just 34 beaches out of 486 around England.

None of the beaches around Bognor will be clean enough to get into the excellent category.

Bognor Regis East, Middleton, Felpham and Pagham are only predicted to be judged as good under the new Blue Flag rules.

The predictions are based on the new standards and four years of water monitoring data from 2003 to 2006. They assume no further action is taken to improve water quality.

Long-established Bognor seafront trader Shirley Hardy said: "It's bad news that Bognor will not have the Blue Flag for 2008. People are more environmentally savvy these days than they used to be. If we are going to be among the worst beaches in the country, there must be measures which can be taken before it is too late.

"I will be asking the council to see what could be done because people do look at websites and see what the water quality at a place is like."

Arun District Council's member in charge of economic regeneration, Cllr Norman Dingemanssaid the council had applied for a quality coast award for Bognor for next year.

"I am pretty confident we can get that and that there will be a flag flying above Bognor's promenade next summer, though the loss of the Blue Flag is unfortunate, though the effect on tourism will be limited if we can get the quality coast award.

"As for the future, we are going to have to look at the reasons for Bognor's poor prediction. We have to talk to the Environment Agency to see where this pollution is coming from and what we can do about it.

"I will make sure that is done this winter," he pledged.

Bognor's loss of the Blue Flag after five consecutive years, and six times in all, is the result of the wet summer.

Heavy rainfall can temporarily affect bathing water quality as the flow of water washes pollution into the sea and rivers through the sewage network and increases run off from farms and roads. This meant the water quality off Bognor's eastern beach met the EU's minimum standards but failed to reach the top rating needed to qualify for the Blue Flag.

An Environment Agency spokeswoman said: "We are satisfied that the sea water result for Bognor Regis East for 2007 was just an anomaly for the year. We are satisfied there was not a major sewage outfall and that it was caused by the pollution washed off the roads and fields by the rain."

For the longer term, she said the agency was aware Bognor's beach had been labelled as poor under the new EU water directive.

"We are going to be targeting our efforts in the next few years where the sources of pollution are and whether they can be cleaned up in the coming years," she stated.

Blue Flag bathing water quality is still retained at Pagham and Felpham. Middleton, however, lost its top water quality and only matched the minimum standard.