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Blue Flag Award
The Blue Flag and Seaside Awards are aimed at improving the quality of England’s coastline and promoting England’s best beaches. Blue Flag is an international award presented to well-managed beaches with excellent water quality and environmental education programmes. Seaside Awards are presented to the best beaches in England and celebrate the quality and diversity of our coastline.
Everyone loves going to the beach and if a beach has a Blue Flag flying it is the sign that you have arrived at one of the very best in the world.
The Blue Flag Award is the international quality mark for beaches. The prestigious award scheme acts as a guarantee to everyone that a beach is among the finest not only in the country, but globally.
They are only awarded to coastal destinations that boast the highest quality of water, facilities, safety, environmental education and management.
Criteria
Over the years, the importance of our Blue Flag Award scheme has driven local councils and managers to improve the quality of their beaches. This has sparked a huge revival of the country’s beautiful and varied coastline.
With more and more people choosing to holiday at home, the importance of developing and maintaining these beauty spots and maintaining excellent water quality has never been more important.
Not only does a Blue Flag show locals and visitors that they have arrived at a clean, safe and beautiful beach, it is also a mark of quality that sets the beach out as an asset to its community and local businesses that will drive and increase tourism.
Applications
Applications for the Blue Flag and Seaside Awards 2023 bathing season are now closed.
Applications for the 2024 bathing season will open in November 2023.
Existing award winners can apply for future year's awards by logging into the application portal here.
New applicants must request a username and login for the application portal, by emailing theseasideawards@keepbritaintidy.org with your name, job title, organisation and the names of the beaches that you wish to apply for.
Blue Flag Award Criteria
Blue Flag Award Criteria (England)
Environmental Education and Information
- Information about the Blue Flag must be displayed at the beach.
- Environmental education activities must be offered and promoted to beach users
- Information about bathing water quality must be displayed
- Information relating to local eco-systems and environmental phenomena must be displayed
- A map of the beach indicating different facilities must be displayed
- A code of conduct that reflects appropriate laws governing the use of the beach and surrounding areas must be displayed.
Water Quality
- The beach must fully comply with the water quality sampling and frequency requirements
- The beach must fully comply with the standards and requirements for water quality analysis
- No industrial, waste-water or sewage-related discharges should affect the beach area
- The beach must achieve ‘excellent’ water quality as set out in the Bathing Water Directive.
Environmental Management
- The local authority / beach operator should establish a beach management committee
- The local authority / beach operator must comply with all regulations affecting the location and operation of the beach
- The beach must be clean
- Algae vegetation or natural debris should be left on the beach (exceptions apply)
- Bins must be available at the beach and they must be regularly emptied
- Facilities for the separation of recyclable waste materials should be available at the beach
- Toilet facilities must be provided
- The toilet or restroom facilities must be kept clean
- The toilet or restroom facilities must have controlled sewage disposal
- There should be no unauthorised camping, driving or dumping of waste on the beach
- During the bathing season dogs must be excluded from the award area of the beach
- All buildings and beach equipment must be properly maintained
- Coral reefs in the vicinity of the beach must be monitored
- A sustainable means of transportation should be promoted in the beach area.
Safety and Services
- If appropriate, an adequate number of lifeguards and/or lifesaving equipment must be available at the beach
- First aid equipment must be available on the beach
- Emergency plans to cope with pollution risks must be in place
- There must be management of beach users and events to prevent conflicts and accidents
- There must be safety measures in place to protect beach users.
- A supply of drinking water should be available at the beach
- Wheelchair access and accessibility features must be in place for at least one Blue Flag beach in each municipality
