Top of the Plops - Aldwick beach among first ever beaches to be given 'Brown Flag' award for poor water quality rating

The ‘awards’, which feature a complementary brown flag with a poo emoji, have been given to the thirteen dirtiest beaches in the UK, a count which, this year, includes Aldwick Beach in Bognor Regis.

All the beaches on the list scored a ‘poor’ rating on the Environment Agency’s last water quality test, which means Aldwick Beach is ranked alongside Scarborough South Bay in North Yorkshire, Southsea East in Hampshire and Porthluney in Cornwall.

een sea-swimmer, Robbie Lane from Holiday Park Guru said: “We’re hoping to make a real splash in the papers with the launch of England’s first ever 'Brown Flag Awards'! Commiserations to our 13 winners this year – you really are top of the plops. We just hope they’ll take up our offer of a free brown flag, although I’m afraid we can’t quite afford to provide a flagpole as well.”

Sussex as a whole appeared to be lagging behind other counties’ seaside offerings, according to Holiday Park Guru, which ranked the region’s beaches 12th best out of 19, with 52 per cent of its official bathing spots rated ‘excellent’ for water cleanliness last Summer. According to the group, the cleanest spots in Sussex are Shoreham Beach and Hove.

It was Dorset, Devon and Suffolk that rounded out the top end of the list, each with the highest percentages of ‘excellent’-rated bathing spots, while Lancashire came bottom of the league table with the lowest.

The Environment Agency takes water samples from 5th May to 30th September.