Torbay Tops The Charts With Award Winning Beaches

It’s official! Torbay has the cleanest bathing waters in the country, scooping a record breaking 16 awards – more than anywhere else in the country.

For the first time ever six Blue Flags will fly high over Oddicombe, Meadfoot, Preston, Paignton, Broadsands and Breakwater this summer.

Ten Torbay beaches have also secured Quality Coast Awards for being clean and safe. They are Maidencombe, Oddicombe, Meadfoot, Preston, Broadsands, Ansteys Cove, Torre Abbey Sands, Paignton, Goodrington and Breakwater.

The Enviroment Agency has been taking water samples across Torbay and the beaches have been identified as meeting stringent measures for both the awards set by the Keep Britain Tidy group. They had to pass strict criteria on a number of aspects of beach management including access, facilities on offer, good litter management and bathing water quality.

Derek Singleton, Torbay Council’s Resort Services Manager, said:

This is absolutely fantastic news. Torbay is the top resort in Britain for the number of Blue Flags and Quality Coast Awards – two very prestigious and highly regarded awards.

Our beaches are fantastic and this global recognition puts us well and truly on the map. It’s more important than ever to attract British tourists as the credit crunch hits hard. As the recession continues more and more people are expected to holiday in this country and these awards will hopefully encourage them to choose Torbay this summer and enjoy the high quality beaches we have here.

Our team works incredibly hard to keep all our beaches around Torbay clean and safe and the fact locals and tourists enjoy our beaches so much is proof they are excellent. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the staff involved for maintaining such high standards including the litter pickers, beach rake tractor driver, the toilet attendants and the beach team.

Click here to see a list of all the beaches in Torbay, I bet there is a few you didn’t know!