Thanet celebrates its blue seas, blue skies and blue flags!

Thanet has received the most blue flags for its beaches than any council area in the UK.
A total of eight Blue Flags have been awarded to the area’s beaches this year which includes, Minnis Bay, West Bay in Westgate, St Mildreds Bay, Westbrook Bay, Margate Main Sands, Botany Bay, Joss Bay and Stone Bay.
Keep Britain Tidy, the national organisation who run a variety of environmental programmes to bring about sustained improvements in the local environment, chose Margate Main Sands for their official ‘Blue Flag Awards’ launch this year (22 May).
Beaches have been awarded Blue Flags based on the highest quality facilities, safety, environmental education, management and for meeting the highest international standard of water quality.
In addition to this Thanet has been awarded two Seaside Awards for Ramsgate Main Sands and Viking Bay, Broadstairs, which recognises and rewards beaches in England that achieve the highest standards of beach management and, in the case of bathing beaches, meet guideline water quality.
This year entrants have seen changes to the Blue Flag criteria, and beaches have undergone much stricter water quality standards to qualify for the globally recognised award. This is the new ‘Excellent’ standard required under the new EU Bathing Water Directive.
Cabinet Member for Tourism, Cllr Johnston, said: “This year has seen much stricter criteria for UK beaches, so it is fantastic news that Thanet has received the most blue flags this year than any other council area across the UK!
“We continue to work hard to ensure our beaches exceed both visitors and residents expectations and today’s announcement just goes to show how serious we are about the condition of our beautiful beaches. This news follows on from Monday’s (21 May) news that Thanet’s Visitor Information Service has won Bronze for ‘Visitor Information Provider of the Year’, at the Visit England Awards for Excellence. With so much to offer in Thanet I would encourage anyone who is looking for a UK beach break to visit our unique sandy beaches.”
Richard McIIwain, Operations Director for Keep Britain Tidy said: “We are pleased to be hosting our official launch for the Blue Flag awards on Margate Main Sands this year. Thanet has done extremely well in achieving eight Blue Flag awards and has topped the leader board in terms of the most Blue Flags in one area and that is why we have chosen to come to Thanet today.”