The city’s beaches have kept their awards for cleanliness this year, with Brighton Central and Hove Lawns both being given Blue Flags and Saltdean being given the Seaside Award.
Keep Britain Tidy’s annual awards were announced this lunchtime, with 190 awards being handed out to England’s best beaches.
All award winners aree clean, safe and meet the highest environmental standards, as well as the tough international bathing water quality standards.
Chris Ingall, Brighton and Hove’s seafront operations manager added: “This is great recognition for everyone’s hard work. As a city we’re promoting the reduction of single use plastics and removal of waste from our beaches.
“There is still a lot to be done but the tide is turning on this global issue.
“My message to everyone who comes to our lovely beachfront is to please be considerate, use the bins provided, recycle where possible and leave the place tidy for everyone to enjoy!”
Cllr Alan Robins, the city’s tourism lead, said: “We’re delighted to have our beaches endorsed as among the UK’s best. It takes an enormous amount of concerted effort by a great number of people to achieve these standards.
“Special thanks must go to our beach cleaning teams, national and community beach cleaning volunteer groups, the dedicated Seafront Office and Beach Lifeguard Team and our partners at Southern Water who are always looking at methods and measures to improve the water quality along our coastline.”
Keep Britain Tidy’s chief executive Allison Ogden-Newton said: “The success of the 148 beaches in reaching the very high standards demanded by both awards is testament to all those who have worked so hard to protect and improve our beaches – from beach managers and volunteers to local people and businesses.
“When you enjoy a trip to a beach flying an international Blue Flag or Seaside Award, you know you are on one of the safest, cleanest and very best in the country.”
The Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), a non-governmental and non-profit organisation, launched the Blue Flag programme in 1987. Keep Britain Tidy administers the scheme in England.
To be awarded a Blue Flag, beaches must comply with a number of criteria covering environmental education and information, water quality, environmental management, safety and services.
The Seaside Award is run by Keep Britain Tidy and recognises and rewards beaches in England that achieve the highest standards of beach management and, in the case of bathing beaches, meet the required standards for water quality.
No recognition for the beach cleaning efforts undertaken by the surfing community? I’ll thank them here:)