A dozen East coast beaches get prestigious Blue Flags

The annual Blue Flag announcement for the UK was made in Cromer, Norfolk. Credit: ITV News Anglia

As 12 East coast beaches win prestigious Blue Flags, a new survey finds a fifth of children have never been to the seaside.

The annual event to announce which beaches in Britain had won the Blue Flags was this year held on the north Norfolk coast in Cromer.

The flags mark them out as being among the best beaches in the world for cleanliness and facilities.

  • Click to watch a report by ITV News Anglia's Natalie Gray

As the awards were declared a survey by Keep Britain Tidy suggest that a quarter of British children have never swum in the sea and almost one in five have never set foot on a beach.

There six Blue Flag beaches in Norfolk, five in Essex and only one in Suffolk.

All six of the Norfolk flags are in the North Norfolk Council area and no other district council in Britain has more.

Six beaches in Norfolk have been awarded Blue Flags.
Only one beach in Suffolk has been awarded a Blue Flag.
Five beaches in Essex have been awarded Blue Flags.