A beach in Sussex has been awarded a brown flag for having some of the poorest water quality in the country.

Aldwick beach in Bognor was given the "accolade" in a study which analysed the Environment Agency’s (EA) water quality tests.

Beaches are rated poor by the EA based on their levels of bacteria such as E. coli from sewage and other waste.

The research, by Holiday Park Guru, a travel website for holidaymakers in the UK, took the data for some of the beaches with the lowest possible ratings on their water quality.

A spokesman for the site said: “Swimming in the sea is a high priority for us on holiday – but I want to be the only thing floating. 

“And so, in an effort to highlight England's beaches that you might want to avoid, we are proud to present the first-ever Holiday Park Guru Brown Flag Awards.

“We've spent hours analysing official Environment Agency water quality data to select the ‘winners’. We plan to make this an annual event and have even offered to send tasteful brown flags to the worst beaches so they can warn swimmers.

“Some of the worst water cleanliness readings were found at beaches at popular resorts including Blackpool, Weston Super Mare and Bognor.”

The Brown Flag Awards 2024

  1. Porthluney in Cornwall
  2. Southsea East in Hampshire
  3. Saint Mary’s Bay in Kent
  4. Littlestone in Kent
  5. Blackpool North in Lancashire
  6. St Annes North in Lancashire
  7. Heacham in Norfolk
  8. Weston Main, Weston Super Mare Sand Bay and Weston Super Mare Uphill Slipway in Somerset
  9. Dunster Beach in Somerset
  10. Bognor, Aldwick in Sussex
  11. Tynemouth Cullercoats in Tyne and Wear
  12. Scarborough South Bay in North Yorkshire
  13. Bridlington South Beach in East Riding of Yorkshire

A spokeswoman for Arun District Council said: “Whilst the ‘poor’ classification for Bognor (Aldwick) has been retained, and that is of course disappointing, it is not surprising due to the way in which bathing water classifications are determined. Each bathing water is classified as Excellent, Good, Sufficient or Poor based on the previous four years’ of samples.

“Southern Water, the Environment Agency and Arun District Council have been working closely through a technical steering group and a partnership group to identify sources of contamination and resolve them. This collaborative approach is important to tackle possible sources of pollution to the bathing water wherever they are discovered.

“The 2023 bathing season, samples at Bognor's Aldwick beach have shown improvement and if classification was based on these results alone Aldwick would have been rated as sufficient.”

Southern Water previously said it is carrying out work to find any sewage pipe misconnections which it describes as an “invisible threat” to our waterways. The company said it is hopeful that it will see an improvement by tackling misconnections as it has with Eastbourne.

Arun District Council and Southern Water were contacted for further comment.

The study also ranked the counties in England based on their percentage of beaches rated excellent by the EA for the cleanliness of their bathing water.

Sussex came 12th with just 52 per cent of beaches rated excellent.

County rankings:

  1. Dorset: 89 per cent
  2. Devon: 86 per cent
  3. Suffolk: 83 per cent
  4. Cornwall: 81 per cent
  5. Tyne and Wear: 78 per cent
  6. Northumberland: 77 per cent
  7. Lincolnshire: 77 per cent
  8. Hampshire and New Forest: 75 per cent
  9. Isle of Wight: 73 per cent
  10. Merseyside: 57 per cent
  11. Essex: 53 per cent
  12. Sussex: 52 per cent
  13. Cumbria: 50 per cent
  14. Norfolk: 50 per cent
  15. Kent: 45 per cent
  16. Yorkshire: 40 per cent
  17. County Durham: 16 per cent
  18. Somerset: 10 per cent
  19. Lancashire: 0 per cent