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North East beaches not appreciated

People have stopped visiting beaches in the North East because they are dirty, a survey has found. About 32% of respondents said they avoided beaches in Northumberland, Cleveland and Durham.

Blackpool tops the list of unpopular British beaches, with 30% of respondents saying they never want to visit it.

Two thirds of Britons holiday abroad because our own beaches are in such a poor state, according to the One Poll survey. However, Cornwall’s golden sands got the thumbs up with 32% naming the area as having the beaches they most want to visit.

The survey found 92% of Britons would visit our coastline more often if beaches were cleaned, cleared of litter and better maintained.

About 87% of Britons blame the Government for neglecting the UK’s beaches.

The survey was conducted as part of a campaign to find the dirtiest beach in Britain. The beach judged most in need of regeneration by voters and experts from the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) - which runs the Blue Flag programme for clean beaches - will receive an environmental clean-up.

Jan Eriksen, FEE president, said: “The improvement of the whole beach environment and raising public awareness of the issues affecting beaches are crucial elements of this campaign.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .