Technology will throw new light on poor bathing water at resort
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERTS have claimed cutting-edge technology will throw new light on poor bathing water quality at Yorkshire’s most popular seaside resort following worries that a multi-million pound investment is failing to bring long-awaited improvements.
Members of Scarborough Borough Council have called for action to be intensified to improve water quality on the North Yorkshire resort’s famous South Bay amid fears that the main tourism season will be affected.
Yorkshire Water has spent £50m in an attempt to bring water quality up to a better standard, but the Environment Agency has officially rated the South Bay in Scarborough as “poor”.
With the main summer season just weeks away, no definitive answer has been provided over what caused the contamination and there are mounting worries about the knock-on effect of the resort’s prime tourism spot having to display warning signs to tell people that the water was given a poor rating.
Scarborough Borough Council has now lost patience and is considering dragging representatives from Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency before councillors to explain what the authority’s leader, Coun Derek Bastiman, called “totally unacceptable” delays.
Coun Janet Jefferson, who represents the Castle ward on the borough council, claimed the wait for answers had gone on too long.
She said: “I’ve spoken to the South Bay Traders Association and to say that they are agitated is an understatement. The South Bay is our dress circle and we need to know what is happening there.
“There was £50m spent there and we were told it was going to be the crème de la crème and now we are all very concerned as to what is going on.”
Yorkshire Water announced in November that it would be carrying out DNA analysis to determine the cause of the pollution in the water at the South Bay but, more than six months later, a cause of the poor water quality has yet to be disclosed.
A spokesman for the Yorkshire Bathing Water Partnership, which consists of the Environment Agency and Yorkshire Water as well as representatives from Scarborough Borough Council and the Welcome to Yorkshire tourism agency, stressed that efforts were continuing to establish the cause of the water pollution in the resort’s South Bay.
The spokesman added: “The Environment Agency has recently carried out cutting-edge DNA profiling on water samples to help identify different sources of pollution and the analysis of these results is currently being finalised.
“The Environment Agency is expected to formally report the findings to the organisations within the partnership, including Scarborough Council, in the next few weeks.
“The partnership will then use the data to better understand what can be done to improve water quality at South Bay.”
The Yorkshire coast has recently enjoyed a renaissance in its tourism industry, prompting concerns that the successes could be undermined by the issues with the South Bay’s water quality. Figures released in January by Welcome to Yorkshire revealed that the highest number of tourists since 1961 came to the Yorkshire coast and the North York Moors National Park last summer.