Surfers Against Sewage is using Church Cliff Beach in Lyme Regis as a key case study in a high-court legal challenge against new UK government regulations.
The Government is introducing a rule, Core Reform 2, that any beach or water body with poor water quality could be barred from applying for bathing water status because it wouldn’t be ‘feasible’ to improve it.
Surfers Against Sewage say this change, due to come into force in Spring 2026, will result in popular bathing sites left unmonitored and abandoned by regulations currently designed to ensure safe water quality and protect public health.
Church Beach, pictured, lost its bathing status in 2015 for poor water quality, but campaigners of River Lim Action tirelessly fought for the site to be re-designated and won the battle in 2024 when it was once again granted bathing status, securing investment for improvement.
However, under new regulations Surfers Against Sewage say Church Beach might never have been re-designated, preventing necessary monitoring and investment to improve water quality.
Vicki Elcoate, River Lim Action coordinator, said: “We provided a witness statement to support this action in the High Court because there’s a real public health risk in the Government’s changes. People will swim anyway and stopping popular beaches from being designated means no monitoring, information or clean up.
“When we applied for designation, we anticipated the water quality would be classified as ‘poor’ and therefore, the goal was to secure investment and commitment to clean up the sources of pollution (mainly human sewage).
“That’s already led to concerted efforts and visible results.”
SAS stated: “These changes to the Bathing Water Regulations risk the government washing their hands of the waterways that need the most help and abandoning some of the nation’s most loved waterways and the people who depend on them.
“Core Reform 2 would require any proposed bathing water to undergo a ‘feasibility assessment’ to determine whether water quality improvements are ‘achievable and proportionate’.
“If the government decides whether a waterway is too polluted or too expensive to improve, it will simply refuse to designate it.
“This means that many beloved river, lake, and coastal locations will be written off before they even get a chance.
“Yet people will continue to use these waters regardless, just without monitoring, accountability, or investment. The public will be exposed to higher health risks, with no legal protections in place which is the opposite of what government claims to be aiming for.”