Swimming: South West
(asked on 11th March 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support new bathing sites in the West of England.
Answered by
Emma Hardy
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 17th March 2026
To designate a site as a bathing water, an application must be submitted to Defra. Applications for new bathing sites are driven by the public and put forward for consultation if certain criteria are met, which can be found online at gov.uk.
We are currently consulting on proposals to designate 13 new bathing waters in England ahead of the 2026 bathing season. No applications were received from the West of England this year.