Special public meeting to discuss Scarborough bathing water pollution confirmed
The poor quality of the bathing water in Scarborough is set to be discussed at a special meeting.
A public meeting of the Scarborough and Whitby Area Committee has been provisionally set for Monday, March 23, to discuss the findings of an investigation into the causes of water pollution in Scarborough.
The Environment Agency’s (EA) updated bathing water ratings have classed the town’s South Bay bathing water quality as ‘poor’, with swimming discouraged, and the North Bay’s bathing water as ‘adequate’.
Cllr Liz Colling, committee chair, said: “The subject will be water quality in the South Bay, but also now, as we know from the data we’ve seen, the North Bay.
“We’ll have the Environment Agency, Durham University, and Prof Darren Gröcke, and he’s the chap who’s been investigating the seaweed as an indicator of water quality.”
Local organisations and hospitality associations have been invited to address the meeting, while members of the public are also invited to attend.
The meeting was announced last year and the date was made public at a full meeting of Scarborough Town Council on Wednesday, January 21.
“Councillors will ask questions, but, as always, members of the public are very welcome to ask a public question at the beginning of the meeting,” Cllr Colling said.
“Again, the papers will be published a week in advance, and there will be data from all the sampling that we saw people doing over the summer, the data from Prof Darren Gröcke and Yorkshire Water’s latest information.”
For almost two years, Professor Darren Gröcke has been leading a comprehensive study of seaweed along the North Yorkshire coast from Filey to Hayburn Wyke, on behalf of North Yorkshire Council.
Through nitrogen isotope analysis of more than 3,000 samples, his findings show values linked to animal manure and human sewage as the dominant contributor to nitrogen pollution, according to the university.
The study also indicates Scalby Beck as a source of nitrogen pollution in Scarborough that is carried south by marine currents towards Scarborough South Bay, a popular visitor and leisure area.
Cllr Colling added that due to the participation of many groups and organisations, the date was not finalised “but hopefully we will have everything together in one place for the public to be able to be on that date”.