Swimming: South West
The question
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
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.
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