River Dart among new bathing spots being proposed across country

Friends go wild swimming in the River Dart

Stretches of river and parts of the coast across the South West will become designated swimming spots as part of Government plans to establish dozens of new bathing water sites.

If designated, the sites would receive regular water monitoring by the Environment Agency, to investigate pollution sources and identify steps to be taken in response, officials said.

This means swimmers would be able to see whether it was safe to enter the waters, which include popular “wild swimming” spots.

Seven out of the 27 new proposed areas are in the South West:

  • Church Cliff Beach, Lyme Regis, Dorset 

  • Coastguards Beach, River Erme, Devon

  • River Dart Estuary at Dittisham, Devon 

  • River Dart Estuary at Steamer Quay, Totnes, Devon 

  • River Dart Estuary at Stoke Gabriel, Devon 

  • River Dart Estuary at Warfleet, Dartmouth, Devon

  • River Frome at Farleigh Hungerford, Somerset

Wild swimming has grown in popularity since 2020.

The Environment Department (Defra) said last year 96% of bathing waters in England met minimum annual standards and 90% were rated as “good” or “excellent”.

But there has been growing public anger over the state of England’s rivers and coastal waters, which suffer pollution from sewage outlets and other sources such as agricultural runoff.

There were 424 designated bathing waters in England in 2023, with only a handful of them inland, and the vast majority on the coast.

This announcement has been described as the largest ever rollout of new bathing sites.

Water minister, Robbie Moore said: “Many people enjoy spending time in our rivers, lakes and coastal beaches, and I am very aware of the value they bring in terms of social, health and wellbeing benefits.

“I want to continue to improve the quality of our bathing waters, which is why we are taking action across the board to drive up standards and hold water companies to account.

“I encourage all local communities and organisations with an interest to take part in this consultation and have their say.”

But, Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Tim Farron said: “Conservative ministers have finally buckled to Liberal Democrat demands for more bathing water sites, but the grim truth is water firms have dumped over 400,000 hours of sewage into swimming spots since 2020.

“The government has yet again been dragged kicking and screaming to take action on water quality.

Tim Farron said: "This is yet another half-baked announcement, which does not ban water firms from dumping sewage into bathing water areas.” Credit: PA

The sites put forward for consultation, which runs until March 10, were chosen based on how many people bathe there and whether it has suitable facilities such as toilets.

Defra said the consultation on the new designations would build on recent improvements to the water environment, which includes boosting the number of water company inspections by the Environment Agency, and requiring a £60 billion infrastructure programme over 25 years.

Chairman of the parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee, Tory MP Philip Dunne, said the designation of inland waters would boost monitoring and encourage efforts to tackle poor water quality.

He said: “This huge uptick in designation of sites in England which will be required to have bathing-quality waters shows a determination to deliver consistently high levels of water quality in areas the public demand it."