Our region is home to beautiful beaches, rivers and reservoirs that thousands of people enjoy every year. Amongst these we have 56 designated bathing waters where people can swim, paddle, walk and unwind. 

How are bathing waters rated?

Beaches and inland swimming spots are officially classed as bathing waters by the European Bathing Water Directive 2000/60/EC. This legislation applies across the UK.

The water quality at each bathing water spot is given one of these ratings: Excellent, Good, Sufficient or Poor. These ratings are based on water samples taken between May and September over four years by the Environment Agency (EA). This helps show how clean the water is overtime. You can see all test results for spots in Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex on the EA website.

 

Last year, a record 96.3% of bathing waters across our region were rated ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’, reflecting the continued progress being made to protect and improve our coasts, rivers and inland waters.

 

Blue flag award

This internationally recognised award is operated in England by Keep Britain Tidy and is given to beaches that have consistent Excellent rated water quality.  These beaches must also meet 28 separate beach-management criteria including safety, waste disposal and environmental care and education programmes. Such was the quality of our bathing water in May 2026, 19 Blue Flags fly in our region.

Seaside award 

Keep Britain Tidy also runs the Seaside Awards, celebrating the quality and diversity of our coastline and are presented to the best beaches in England.  Across our region, 18 bathing waters have been awarded this prestigious award in May 2026.

Where are the bathing waters in our region?

Find a bathing water spot near you using the map and table below.

 

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Bathing water awards 2026