With more than 500 miles of coastline and boasting 23 Blue Flag beaches, Devon is a popular place for tourists and locals alike to enjoy a day at the seaside. But the Environment Agency has warned there are two beaches in the county where you should never swim.
Both Wildersmouth Beach in Ilfracombe, and Instow Beach near Bideford have been given a "permanent advice against bathing" warning by Swimfo on the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) website.
The online tool provides an overview of multiple bathing water locations, including a daily pollution risk. Annual ratings classify multiple bathing water locations as excellent, good, sufficient or poor based on measurements taken over a period of up to four years.
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Water quality may be temporarily reduced due to factors such as heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, wind, sunlight, or the tide. However, the two North Devon locations have been deemed permanently unsafe for swimming.
In addition, from May to September, weekly assessments measure current water quality and daily pollution risk forecasts are issued. When the potential for a temporary reduction in water quality is forecast, the Environment Agency offers advice against bathing.
This enables bathers to make informed decisions about avoiding times or locations where the risk of pollution is higher than normal, and when health risks from bathing may be higher than the annual classification suggests. The information is posted on Swimfo. However, in the case of Instow and Wildersmouth, the warning is in place all year round.
Elsewhere in the south-west, Burnham Jetty North at Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, also has a year-round pollution warning. And three separate spots at Weston-super-Mare - Sand Bay, Uphill, and the main beach in Weston - are classified as poor, with "bathing not advised".
Dunster Beach in Somerset, and Porthluney in St Austell, Cornwall, have also been given poor ratings, with a "bathing not advised" warning in place.
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