Sewage: Swimming 'not advised' at resort popular with Sheffielders ahead of bank holiday

Defra is advising against bathing at Cleethorpes as many Sheffielders prepare for a bank holiday weekend on the beach - and the Met Office predicts fine weather.

Officials say pollution risk forecasts are made every day at Cleethorpes and are based on measurements of rain, time, sunlight and wind.

Campaign group Surfers Against Sewage say several sewer overflows discharge into local watercourses including Buck Beck, and further upstream in the River Humber which meets the sea at Cleethorpes. The area comes under Anglian Water.

The warning comes amid a row over water companies dumping raw sewage into the sea.

Sheffield MP Louise Haigh criticised Yorkshire Water after 169,576 ‘spill events’ between 2016 and 2021 - an average of one every 18 minutes, she said.

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She added: “It’s appalling that Yorkshire Water continues to dump sewage onto our beaches and waters destroying the natural environment as well as causing a health hazard to the millions of visitors to these sites each year.

“The country is facing a dirty water emergency and this Tory government has sat back and enabled private water companies to treat our waterways as dumping grounds. “Labour will end this disgraceful practice, ensure enforcement of unlimited fines for water companies and toughen up regulations that currently allow the system to be abused.”

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A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: “We completely understand the increased public interest in sewage discharges in our region and nationally.

“We know that our storm overflows operate more often than our customers, or we, would like and we’re working hard to make improvements across the region. We’re investing £790m to improve water quality across the region, including £137 million by 2025 to enhance, investigate and increase monitoring on storm overflows.

“There are a wide variety of factors that impact water quality at Yorkshire’s beaches, not all of which are in Yorkshire Water’s control.

“All of Yorkshire’s coastal bathing areas are classified as sufficient or better by the Environment Agency. All stakeholders, including ourselves, and visitors to our region’s beaches have a role to play in protecting and improving bathing waters.”

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