Questions over sewage discharges, water quality and the reliability of public warnings sparked a lively debate as councillors scrutinised the future of Westward Ho!’s Blue Flag beach status.
Speaking at a meeting of Torridge District Council on Wednesday, June 3, Northam Burrows manager and lead ranger Mike Day outlined the work required to maintain the internationally recognised Blue Flag award, which Westward Ho! has held for 23 consecutive years.
Mike said the award was often associated with water quality but also depended on a wide range of factors including safety, environmental education, accessibility, dog controls and visitor facilities. He explained that Environment Agency testing during the bathing season had consistently rated the beach’s water quality as “excellent” since the opening of the sewage treatment works at Cornborough in 2003.
He told councillors that weekly water sampling focused on the presence of E. coli and intestinal enterococci bacteria, which can indicate contamination from sewage and animal waste. According to Mike, the beach had remained eligible for the Blue Flag scheme every year since the treatment works became operational.
The discussion later turned to combined sewer overflows and concerns about discharges into local waters.
Mike said sewage discharges occurred through the Rock Nose combined sewer overflow system when heavy rainfall overwhelmed the combined drainage and sewage network. However, he said the geography of Westward Ho!’s wide bay helped disperse any discharge quickly.
He said fewer than ten discharges had occurred during the previous bathing season and argued they rarely affected official bathing water results. He added that the Environment Agency’s testing consistently showed water quality remained well below the threshold required for an excellent rating.
Cllr Jane Whittaker raised concerns about reports of discharges affecting the Northam Burrows area.
In response, Mike confirmed there was an emergency overflow discharge point on Northam Burrows but said it was only used in exceptional circumstances when the sewerage system became overwhelmed. He said previous Environment Agency information showed improvements had reduced discharges at the site from around 21 in one year to three the following year, although figures could vary significantly depending on rainfall.
Cllr Huw Thomas questioned the usefulness of discharge figures, arguing that counting incidents without measuring the volume released gave an incomplete picture. Fellow councillors also raised concerns about how long individual discharge events lasted.
Cllr Doug Smith referred to media reports and warnings from campaign group Surfers Against Sewage which had suggested water quality at the beach had been compromised.
Mike said councillors should be cautious when interpreting information from different sources. He stressed that official water quality assessments were based on Environment Agency laboratory testing rather than campaign data.
He said: “The only official water testing that is carried out is carried out by the Environment Agency.”
While praising the work of Surfers Against Sewage, Mike described it as a campaigning organisation whose objectives could sometimes lead to misunderstandings about local conditions. He pointed to differences between official guidance and the group’s public alerts following overflow events.
Cllr Wendy Lo-Vel questioned whether South West Water was investing enough in infrastructure improvements, particularly given housing growth and predictions of more extreme weather linked to climate change. She said any discharge was “too many”.
Chris Wilson, coastal engineer at Torridge District Council, said South West Water’s publicly available improvement plans included targets to reduce overflow spills by 2030 and beyond.
He said estimated discharge volumes were available for some outfalls and noted that one pumping station linked to the Rock Nose system recorded 65 discharge occurrences in 2024. Chris also pointed out that water quality in the area could be influenced by a number of discharge points throughout the wider Torridge estuary system, rather than a single outfall.
Despite the concerns raised, Mike highlighted the role played by residents and volunteers in maintaining the beach. He said organised beach cleans were well supported and noted that Westward Ho! had recently been ranked as the seventh-cleanest beach in the UK. He credited the community, council teams and partner organisations including the RNLI for helping maintain the resort’s Blue Flag status.
