Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the average timeframe for receiving approval for an application for bathing water status.

We aim to assess and make decisions within 4-6 months of receiving an application so that new designations can be added to the following year’s list of designated bathing waters before the start of the season on 15 May. However, as every application is different, in some instances it can take longer.