KISS ME QUICK! ENGLAND’S SEASIDE RESORTS ARE BACK!

Holidaymakers are being urged to fall back in love with seaside resorts after English beaches cleaned-up with BLUE FLAG beach awards.

Blue flag awards were given to 82 beaches this year.

Keep Britain Tidy, responsible for Blue Flag in England, said we should be smitten with our own beaches – and mate with Margate not Majorca.

Thanet, which takes in Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs, today basks in the glory of ten Blue Flags. This is the best performance anywhere in the country for a decade.

Terrific Torbay, got seven Blue Flags. Sensational Southend also got three. And traditional destinations such as Brighton, Bournemouth and Skegness maintained high standards.

Further north, Scarborough, got three flags. North Tyneside also got three.

Over the last six years the number of Blue Flag beaches in England has nearly doubled (82 this year compared to 45 to 2002).

So it’s all aboard for Ice creams on the prom, kiss-me-quick hats, and mile after mile of golden sands – the English seaside resort is back!

Keep Britain Tidy chief executive, Phil Barton, said: “We keep being told that our love affair with the seaside has been on the rocks. But as far as we are concerned England’s beach resorts go from strength to strength.

Now is the time for the English to rekindle passion for traditional beach holidays in this country. Our beaches are fabulous places to visit and that’s official. Blue Flag is only awarded to beaches that have good access, top notch facilities, are litter free and have clean sea-water.

We are challenging people to avoid overseas air travel and be kind to the environment by holidaying at home.”

There are 2,682 Blue Flag beaches in the world. The best country for Blue Flags is Spain with 499, closely followed by Greece with 430.

There was further good news for English resorts today as 80 beaches received Quality Coast Awards (QCA).

Two traditional Seaside towns in the north west had success. Blackpool South Beach got a QCA. North Merseyside got two new QCA beaches at Southport and Ainsdale.

Quality Coast Awards are given to the best beaches in the country which are well managed but may not reach Blue Flag standards for water quality.