Sandgate Parish Council is making an application to DEFRA (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) for the beach at Granville Parade in Sandgate to be formally designated as a bathing beach. If we are successful, then hopefully the Environment Agency will then undertake water quality testing at this location.

Currently, the sampling point for Sandgate is at Seabrook Point: a mile west from Granville Parade and to the west of a sewage outfall pipe. The prevailing current in this area runs west to east and testing therefore fails to pick up pollutants which are dissipated in an easterly direction towards Sandgate and Folkestone.

This follows work done by the Parish Council in late 2023 to test the water at Granville Parade, because of concerns about the accuracy and reliability of the data published by the Environment Agency and Southern Water. Based on the results of that water testing, we decided that we should issue advice to sea users on best practice so that they may enjoy the sea in a safe manner. Signs went up in November last year, informing residents and visitors that the quality of the water at our beach is normally excellent or good, but that after heavy rainfall or stormy conditions, the quality of the water may be adversely affected for up to 48 hours. The signs include websites and QR codes where further information on water quality may be found.

The Bathing Water application for Sandgate Granville Parade will be submitted at the end of October 2025. It will include factual information about the facilities near the beach, and it needs to be supported by a consultation as well as some surveys that will be undertaken over the summer.

Sandgate Parish Council has therefore started a consultation process to get views about our proposal for Granville Parade beach in Sandgate to be formally designated as a bathing water from as many local people, organisations and businesses as possible. The consultation will run until the end of September 2025 and will be advertised through a variety of means, including the Parish Council’s website, social media, local meetings and events etc.

The responses of everyone who responds to the consultation will be included in the application to designate the site as a bathing water. The names of organisations, businesses and individuals that ask to remain anonymous will not be listed.