Further Scarborough Bathing Water Summit Meetings Might Not be Needed

The leader of North Yorkshire Council, has indicated that the series of high-level summit meetings addressing persistent bathing water quality issues along the coast, particularly in Scarborough, may be winding down.

Following what was the fourth critical summit held over the past year, Councillor Carl Les suggested the focus is now shifting from large partnership gatherings to more specialised working groups, driven by technical data and planned actions.

The leader expressed confidence that the previous summits, which brought together the council, the Environment Agency, Yorkshire Water, and other key partners, have successfully identified both the problem and potential ways forward. Councillor Les acknowledged that the initial meetings were challenging, as partners were initially reluctant to take responsibility.

Speaking about the shift in approach, Councillor Les stated his belief that future large gatherings may be unnecessary:

“I don't think we're going to have many more of these summit meetings, if any at all.

I think what we're more likely to do now is have working meetings between the experts about what the solution is and who's going to do what.

There's a couple of reports about to be published. One from the Environment Agency as well and we're hoping that all these reports will come together in one report which will come to a set of conclusions and a set of actions.

We might not need a summit again to bring people all together. It might just be the sort of the the engineers of the those people coming together to say we're going to do this next and you're going to do that next, etc.”

Focus Shifts to Action and Specific Identification

The transition away from summits reflects progress in identifying the likely primary source of contamination, stemming from comprehensive studies commissioned by the council. Expert evidence presented at the summit, specifically a two-year seaweed study led by Professor Darren Gröcke, indicated that nitrogen pollution linked to animal manure and human sewage is the dominant factor. This study, which involved sampling between Hayburn Wyke and Filey, compellingly suggests that Scalby Beck is significantly impacting bathing water quality in Scarborough’s North and South Bays.

While the general location of the issue is believed to be confirmed, Councillor Les stressed that technical work remains to be completed to define the exact source of pollution before final solutions can be implemented.

Commenting on the effectiveness of the partnership thus far and the detailed work ahead, Cllr Les said:

“I think the summit has worked well in bringing people together um to actually identify not just what the problem is but you know what we can do about it now .

There's still a bit of further work to be done because we know that there is an issue in Scalby Beck. We now need to identify how much of it is human waste, how much of it is agricultural runoffs etc, so that's the next bit that just has to be done.

We want to see action taken as quickly as possible.”

North Yorkshire Council is now supporting further investigations by Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency, with the Environment Agency’s independent study also advising further investigation into issues at Scalby Beck. The council leader emphasised the necessity of focusing immediate efforts on the identified cause to ensure actions are delivered quickly to improve bathing water in Scarborough for future generations.

The cooperation among partners has already led to tangible commitments, including Yorkshire Water looking into advancing existing investment projects in the area. The council also noted that earlier conjecture about the contribution of the McCain’s chip factory outfall was addressed after the company invested significant funds in clean-up efforts and helped sponsor the expert seaweed study.

Richard Flinton, North Yorkshire Council’s chief executive, underlined that coastal pollution involves a "multitude of contaminants" and affirmed that clean, safe bathing water is crucial for communities.