'Things have gone down the pan' - Section of Worthing beach 'named and shamed' at second annual Brown Flag Awards

Alongside Aldwick beach in Bognor Regis, Worthing Beach House is among the ‘winners’ of the Brown Flag Awards – also known as ‘top of the plops’.

Two other water quality testing locations – known as ‘Worthing’ and ‘Goring Beach’ – both scored one star and so ‘narrowly missed out’ on winning Brown Flag Awards.

A spokesperson for Worthing Borough Council said: “We are disappointed by last year’s water quality classifications.

“Last year was the first time the Environment Agency gathered water quality data at Beach House and Goring Beach, which was a result of the fantastic efforts by residents to help obtain the two new bathing designations needed to test the water at these locations.

“The poor classification at Beach House has validated the much-needed designation and subsequent testing, but we don’t believe that the seawater at Beach House has dramatically worsened in recent years.”

Southern Water said “Worthing Beach House was designated as a new bathing water in 2024, and rated ‘poor’ in its first year for water quality.

A spokesperson added: “The Environment Agency has been clear that this was not related to storm overflows, but likely due to contamination in surface water drains.

“We are working closely with the local authority and other local partners to track down where private wastewater pipes may be illegally connected into these channels.

"We hope that through this action, we can come together to achieve a better water quality score for the coming years.”

Sussex, as a whole, has dropped to 13th in the clean water league table.

UK travel site Holidayparkguru.co.uk analysed the Environment Agency’s official summertime water quality data at hundreds of beaches to reveal the ‘19 grubby winners’.

A spokesperson for the researchers said: “Two Sussex beaches have been named and shamed at the second annual 'Brown Flag Awards' – and the county has dropped down a league table of clean coastlines.

“The Brown Flag beaches are those rated as 'poor' by the Environment Agency due to bacteria such as e-coli from sewage and other waste.

“The number of Brown Flag beaches in England leapt up from 13 in 2024 to 19 in 2025 – an increase of 46 per cent.”

Holiday Park Guru said it is offering free brown flags so that the 19 named beaches can ‘warn summer swimmers about their poor rating’.

The spokesperson added: “Each flag is tastefully decorated with a poo emoji. Somerset was the only county that took up the generous offer of a free flag last year – as it was used by campaigners during a clean water protest.

“Aldwick Beach at Bognor Regis also won a Brown Flag in 2024, along with other big name resorts such as Blackpool and Weston Super Mare.

“Worthing is classed as a ‘Newcomer’ (or should that be ‘Poocomer’?) because it has won a Brown Flag Award for the first time.

“An area known by the Environment Agency (EA) as ‘Worthing Beach House’ towards the East of the beach was added to the EA’s list of designated bathing spots for 2024 and has been given a ‘poor’ rating.”

Worthing Borough Council said the additional data – ‘despite being disappointing’ – is helping to ‘identify and fix sources of pollution’ that will ‘improve seawater quality along our coastline’.

The spokesperson added: “One source of pollution at Beach House has already been identified and halted as a result of the collaboration between the Environment Agency, Southern Water and council teams.

“As a result of last year’s testing, we now know just how much work needs to be done at Beach House and across our coastline to get Worthing’s seawater to a good standard.

“The 2006 Bathing Water Directive means that any ‘poor’ rated bathing waters are obliged to display a ‘do not swim’ warning, which helps residents and visitors make informed decisions about swimming in the area. The beach will remain open and accessible as normal.

“We are working with Southern Water, which has developed and are actioning improvement plans in each catchment area, and with the Environment Agency to continue testing water quality and address potential sources of pollution. We remain committed to improving coastal water quality and ensuring everyone can enjoy cleaner seas along our coastline.”

Overall, 47 per cent of Sussex’s beaches are rated as ‘excellent’ for water cleanliness. Northumberland, Dorset and Devon were the highest rated counties with scores around 90 per cent.

Three beaches in Sussex have seen their water quality rating drop over the last year, including Lancing (Beach Green), Worthing (a central section to the east of Goring Beach) and Bognor Regis (East).

“More positive news is that Hastings Pelham Beach has been upgraded from 'good' to 'excellent' over the last year,” the Holiday Park Guru team added.

"Once again, Lancashire came bottom of the league table with none of its beaches being graded as ‘excellent’ for water cleanliness.”

Campaigner and sea-swimmer Robbie Lane, from HolidayParkGuru.co.uk, said he hoped that ‘we’d be handing out fewer Brown Flags this year.

"But things have gone down the pan,” he added.

"For Sussex, the bad news is that it’s picked up two Brown Flag Awards, whereas last year it won just one.

"The good news is that almost half of the beaches in Sussex are rated as ‘excellent’ for their water quality in summer.

"Do your research this summer and you’ll be saying ‘wish you were here’ rather than ‘wish I’d worn a hazmat suit’.

"A full list of the three star swimming spots can be found at https://www.holidayparkguru.co.uk.”

Holiday Park Guru used Environment Agency data ‘based on about 7,000 samples’ at more than 400 bathing waters.

The government agency’s data is ‘calculated annually based on samples from the previous four years’. Rivers and lakes were excluded from the research, with a focus on England's beaches.

The Holiday Park Guru spokesperson added: “The water quality readings look for intestinal enterococci and escherichia coli (e-coli) levels to see whether there is ‘faecal matter’ in the water. This comes from ‘sewage, agricultural livestock, wildlife, birds and road drainage’ according to the Environment Agency.

“Each bathing resort receives an official Environment Agency score of: three stars (excellent), two stars (good), one star (sufficient) or zero stars (poor). Overall, 67 per cent of England’s monitored resorts currently score a three star rating whilst five per cent score zero stars. The latter is an increase on last year.

“It is worth noting that water quality readings are only taken from 15th May - 30th September. During the winter, water quality tends to be lower along England’s coastline as higher rainfall causes more sewage and waste water to overflow into the sea and into rivers.”