UK Clean beaches boost to Day Trippers

With almost 50% of Britain's spending at least one day a year at the seaside, the trend has been to stay off the sands, but now with beaches all round the country cleaning up their act this could be about to change.

Currently the biggest users of the sandy stretches are people out for a Sunday stroll with only a small number actually bringing the kids and partaking in the traditional pastime of building sand castles.

This trend has been as a result of numerous horror stories of sewage, chemical, and rubbish polluted beaches but the latest survey by the Blue Flag organisation which monitors beach cleanliness around the world points to a changing environment.

To achieve blue flag status amongst other standards there must be low levels of bacteria in the sea and little or no litter or dog fouling on the shore

This year 122 UK beaches reached blue flag status, the book also included over 200 beaches which are not of such high water quality or are rural beaches, not classed as resorts, and as such cannot obtain blue flag status, but due to the work put in cleaning these beaches they all had water quality higher than EU "safe" standards.

The chief executive of Environmental Campaigns, which runs the Keep Britain Tidy Campaign, say ten years ago it would have been an impossible task to recommend anywhere in the UK such was the state of the coastline.

But criticism of many beach managers and water companies has forced them to invest heavily in improvements, with some towns even redefining their image, moving away from the kiss-me-quick tag and promoted themselves as quality destinations catering for a full and fun family day out.

Details: England 207 beaches make the guide, 83 of them in the West Country. 109 Wales, Scotland only 40 and Northern Ireland 9. The Channel Islands 8. The UK's cleanest beach was Bournemouth pier, scoring 99 out of 100. British resorts were given an average score of 80. The guide also publishes details of facilities, by demand rather than necessity