Pollution fears force swimmers out of sea at Filey

Bathers at Filey, which has just been stripped of its Blue Flag, were told to get out on Tuesday after RNLI lifeguards spotted “discolouration” in the water.

An investigation into “grease particles” seen floating in the water revealed nothing untoward, but there’s concern it will harm the resort’s reputation, coming days after it emerged it had lost its Blue Flag, after failing several water quality tests.

Catherine Slater, from Marton cum Grafton, North Yorkshire, who was on the beach with her daughters Hannah, nine, and Milly, seven, and other friends and their families, said the children had been playing in the sea before a van turned up with a loudhailer, telling them to get out.

She said: “There was this van with flashing amber lights and a man on a loudhailer saying get out, the water is contaminated. That’s all they said and they kept doing it every half hour, so everybody had to get out of the water.

“The children were all worried they’d picked up something, but no one told us what it was.

“I felt really sorry for the traders. Filey was pretty quiet and now they are closing the sea.”

The authorities yesterday said it was a co-incidence that the incident happened just days after it emerged the town had lost its Blue Flag.

In a statement Yorkshire Water – which happened to be in the area taking water quality samples to comply with a new European directive – said: “We understand that the Environment Agency and Scarborough Borough Council have looked into the incident and don’t believe that there was a pollution in the sea.

“It’s a coincidence that this occurred at the same time it was announced that Filey lost its Blue Flag.

“We were in the area doing some routine sampling as part of a program of additional sampling we’re carrying out right down Yorkshire’s coast.”

An Environment Agency spokesman added: “We have no current concerns, but we are monitoring the situation, keeping a watching brief and staying in touch with Scarborough Council.”

Record rainfall earlier this summer is thought to have been responsible for contaminating a number of beaches, as it causes sewer overflow pipes to discharge untreated dilute sewage into the marine environment, along with agricultural run-off.

Beaches are tested each week and only lose their flag if they breach limits for E coli – which can cause stomach upsets and sickness – four times in a season, or three times for another bacteria, intestinal enterococci.

Filey failed an E coli test on June 7, and the same day breached the limit for intestinal enterococci. Levels of intestinal enterocci were also too high on May 10 and July 3.

Seaton Carew in Teeside and Roker in Tyne and Wear have also lost Blue Flags.

Another Yorkshire beach, Bridlington North, recorded 10,000 colonies of E coli per 100ml of seawater on June 21, 40 times higher than the Blue Flag limit.

Scarborough Borough councillor Mike Cockerill, whose portfolio includes responsibility for coastal issues, said: “Environmental Health decided to err on the side of caution and people were advised not to go into the water; it is nothing to do with Blue Flag.

“There is no link between the alleged discolouration and losing Blue Flag, none whatsoever.”

[email protected]