Blue flag awards

Published

Thursday 22 May, 2025

Updated

Thursday 22 May, 2025

Environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy has announced the winners of the prestigious Blue Flag and Seaside Awards for summer 2025, and among them are three bathing beaches on the Isle of Sheppey.

This year the beaches which have met the high standard required to be presented with a Blue Flag, Seaside Award, or both are:

Sheerness – Blue Flag and Seaside Award
Leysdown – Seaside Award
Minster Leas – Seaside Award

Cllr Dolley Wooster, chair of the environment and climate change committee at Swale Borough Council, said:

“It’s brilliant news for the Island to receive these prestigious awards once again.

“These highlight all the hard work carried out by our officers and volunteers to maintain our beaches and their facilities for residents and visitors to enjoy.

“We’re lucky to have such beautiful coastline, and these awards recognise our beaches are still among the best in the country.”

Cllr Elliott Jayes, vice chair of the environment and climate change committee, said:

“These awards confirm we’ve got some brilliant beaches for visitors and locals to enjoy on the Island.

“These are popular locations, which is why we’ve got the RNLI lifeguards on duty at Sheerness and Leysdown to make sure people can enjoy their visits safely.

“We hope people can help us keep them pleasant for everyone by disposing of any rubbish responsibly, or taking it home with them.”

Keep Britain Tidy’s Chief Executive, Allison Ogden-Newton OBE said:

“In England we are lucky enough to have some of the best beaches in the world. It’s wonderful to see the flags flying proudly over three beaches in Swale, demonstrating their quality to residents and visitors alike.

“The awards are a credit to the collective efforts of beach and site managers, volunteers, residents and businesses who should take pride today in their tireless efforts to maintain, protect and improve some of our best-loved and most popular blue spaces.

“Visitors to a beach flying a Blue Flag can be assured the beach will be clean, safe and meet the highest environmental standards.”

The Blue Flag and Seaside Awards are aimed at improving the quality of England’s coastline and promoting the country’s best beaches.

Blue Flag, the world’s most recognised award for beaches and marinas, is an environmental education programme managed by Keep Britain Tidy on behalf of the Foundation for Environmental Education.

It is only presented to beaches with water which has achieved the highest classification as set by the EU Bathing Water Directive and has an environmental education programme, and, to qualify, each applicant must meet and maintain a series of stringent environmental, educational, safety and accessibility criteria.

Seaside Awards are presented to the best beaches in England and celebrate the quality and diversity of our coastline.

Among the criteria beaches are assessed against are:

Safety and services, such as first aid, lifeguards where necessary
Environmental information including displaying details about local eco systems
Environmental management, including litter and waste.
Water quality – Blue Flag beaches must meet the ‘excellent’ water quality standard as set out in the EU bathing water directive and Seaside Award winners must meet the 'sufficient’ standard.