Staithes Clean Up Continues
Yorkshire - Monday 15 November, 2010
Staithes in Yorkshire has again been named one of the top 10 dirtiest beaches in Britain after it failed to meet the minimum European standards for water quality. Timothy, who has been campaigning for the last five years to solve the myriad problems the harbour faces, believes that not enough has been done to tackle the problems.
Yorkshire Water, which has been working in the Staithes area, recently published a 5-year plan for the Scarborough area. It wants to considerably improve water quality by improving water treatment and waste water storage. Recently the company investigated a suspected sewage leak in a rising main in the harbour wall and made the necessary repairs. But the beach still failed the tests.
A recent article in the Yorkshire Post criticised the decision to concentrate investment in Yorkshire's water quality in Scarborough, Filey and Bridlington.
In the article, Timothy said:
"These grand plans are fine. But you can't just include selectively two or three places and dump all the rest.
"Research is all very well. But in the meantime it runs the risk of Staithes being undesignated as a bathing beach and that would be a disaster as far as I am concerned because it is so important for Yorkshire tourism.
"Putting money into Scarborough is all very well. But Whitby needs money too if it is to benefit from the enormous wealth which could be coming its way from the offshore wind industry."
Timothy will continue to put pressure on the Environment Agency, Scarborough Borough Council and Yorkshire Water to ensure that Staithes can pass the tests in the future.
