Beach Standards
The Council recognises that there is a wide range of beach types, with different levels of facilities and amenities. The Council therefore advocates a hierarchy of indicative management standards for each category of beach, as follows:
As a general guide, the most popular and accessible amenity beaches will most likely have:
- Official "designated bathing water" status (as determined by DEFRA)
- Excellent water quality
- Toilet facilities readily available for public use
- Café nearby
- Daily litter cleaning in high season
- Car parking close by
- Seasonal dog restrictions
- Public rescue equipment
- Seasonal lifeguard service (where indicated by risk assessment)
- Active promotion for tourism
- On-site information provision (safety, environmental, etc)
- Easy access on to beach
As a general guide, the intermediate category of beaches will most likely have:
- Excellent water quality (but not currently tested)
- Cleaning as and when needed
- Car parking (normally within about 500 m)
- May have toilet facilities nearby available for public use
- May have easy access
- May have café or pub nearby
- Public rescue equipment (but only where indicated by risk assessment) o
- Some promotion
As a general guide, the remote and inaccessible category of beaches will most likely have:
- No facilities
- Only occasional cleaning, usually by volunteers
- No active promotion or publicity
- No signage
- Public rescue equipment (but only where indicated by risk assessment)