Northumberland beaches left out of quality awards
Tourism promotion in Northumberland could be hit by a failure to enter the county's renowned beaches for national quality awards, it was claimed yesterday.
Northumberland's rugged coastline and long stretches of sand feature heavily in marketing material for the county's vital tourism industry.
But none of its beaches - which include gems such as Bamburgh, Druridge Bay and Cresswell - were entered in this year's prestigious Blue Flag or Quality Coast Awards run by the Keep Britain Tidy organisation. Not even Cresswell, which last year retained its QCA award after being put forward by the former Castle Morpeth Council, was nominated by the cash-strapped county council this time round.
Yesterday that decisions came under fire from tourism industry leaders and councillors, especially at a time when the United Kingdom is experiencing a mini-boom in holidays at home.
Ruth McNeely, a Berwick guesthouse owner who chairs the North Northumberland Tourism Association, said: "Anything like this, which doesn't allow us the opportunity to reflect the quality of the area, is a retrograde step, because the coastline is our bread and butter up here.
"Any publicity that we can get for our area through national awards like this is valuable, so we are missing out.
"Everyone is looking for signs of quality these days because visitors are becoming more selective."
The association's vice-chairman Derek Sharman, a Berwick-based tour guide, said: "These awards do matter, as you can see by all the national TV, radio and press coverage today.
"The lack of any Northumberland beaches is a very sad thing."
Conservative county councillor Peter Jackson, the former leader of Castle Morpeth Council, slammed the decision not to enter Cresswell beach.
"We were very proud to win this award at Castle Morpeth because of its importance in promoting tourism," he said. "Not entering this year is deplorable and I wonder who took the decision.
"I am absolutely positive that if any local councillors had been consulted they would have said we should have entered all of our beaches which qualify for these awards."
Mike Jeffrey, countryside access and recreation manager, said yesterday the county council is "not currently convinced of the value of the QCA scheme."
The authority owns beaches at Seaton Sluice, Blyth, Cambois, Newbiggin, Lynemouth, Cresswell, Druridge Bay, Beadnell and Spittal.
None of them meet the criteria for Blue Flag status, but all of them, apart from Lynemouth, are eligible for QCA awards.
Mr Jeffrey said entering all the beaches would cost about ã2,500 a year, as well as requiring additional planning and signage work. "To have continued with the Cresswell QCA alone could have led to an impression in the public mind that Cresswell was the jewel in the crown of Northumberland's beaches.
"While it is a very pleasant beach, its capacity in respect of parking and facilities for the public is limited when compared to other beaches, for example Blyth and Druridge Bay Country Park.
"The beaches the council owns are attractive, well managed, and generally have very good water quality and facilities that are commensurate with the level of visitor use they receive."
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This sounds crazy!. I mean after a ã10 million revamp of Newbiggin Bay, the dogs ban on the beach, the cost of maintenance by the coastal wardens, and the regeneration initiative even in just this one coastal town to attract more tourism,never mind the costal artwork etc and we get no blue flag award because the County Council never bothered to enter us?.....Like I say it sounds crazy....so what the heck was the point in all that investment?....cmon NCC get ur finger out and get us those awards next time around....