A RECORD number of South West beaches will be featured in this year's Good Beach Guide after winning praise for their clean bathing water.

Out of 195 sampled, 155 have been recommended by the Marine Conservation Service for inclusion in its 20th Good Beach Guide.

Seven Bournemouth beaches, five Poole beaches and four Christchurch beaches have been recommended along with Highcliffe beach and Milford-on-sea.

Durdle Door's east and west beaches and Lulworth Cove have also made the grade along with Swanage central beach and Studland's Knoll and central beaches.

Kimmeridge Bay gained a basic pass along with Rockley Sands in Poole harbour and Boscombe Pier.

A UK results breakdown shows that the South West was the top performing region this year, hitting a new record for recommended beaches meeting stringent European water quality standards.

The region has reaped the rewards of South West Water's £1 billion Clean Sweep coastal sewage treatment improvement programme and the driest summer weather in Britain.

MCS coastal pollution officer Thomas Bell said: "MCS is delighted to recommend over 60 per cent of UK beaches this year on the basis of excellent water quality.

"This is great news for the thousands of holidaymakers heading to the British coast this summer. We're also delighted to report that the number of beaches achieving our tough water quality standard is four times higher than ten years ago.

"Britain's beaches used to be awash with sewage and the Good Beach Guide drew a line in the sand 20 years ago for what was acceptable. Today we're enjoying the benefits of that campaign."

However, the MCS believes that the number of beaches reaching its stringent water quality standard may have peaked because storm related pollution, driven by climate change, is now a serious threat to coastal waters.

In Poole, Sandbanks, Canford Cliffs, Shore Road and Branksome Chine all received the important award.

Poole won its first Blue Flag in 1987 and has received the annual award every year, except 1995.

Borough of Poole's head of leisure services Clive Smith, said: "This award is extremely important to use. We work hard to maintain very high standards for Poole's beaches every year.

"We are dedicated to making sure that our outstanding beaches continue to rank as some of the best in the world, and the Blur Flag proves this."

The Blue Flag Award was started in France in 1985 and was launched across Europe two years later.

In 2001 the Blue Flag programme became a global organisation with 36 countries taking part in the scheme.

  • The 20th edition of the Good Beach Guide is published in support of the MCS Campaign for Clean Seas and is available online from the link below