Blue Flags for five Fife beaches

By Craig Smith

DESPITE THE recent dreich weather, the outlook for five Fife beaches got a whole lot sunnier yesterday as they received European Blue Flag status.

Leven Beach has won the award for the first time, joining St Andrews West Sands, Elie Harbour, Aberdour Silver Sands and Burntisland in being able to fly the flag this summer.

The flags, which will fly until August 31, essentially tell people the beaches have the highest possible water quality and good facilities including lifeguards, first aid, disabled access and regular cleaning.

Yesterday’s awards presentation now means Fife is home to five out of the six blue flags given to Scottish beaches this summer, with Montrose the only other beach to receive one.

A further Blue Flag has also been awarded to Kirkcudbright Marina.

Provost Frances Melville marked Fife’s achievement on Leven East beach, which has seen a lot of clean-up work over the last few years.

“The Blue Flags are a tribute to the hard work and dedication of all our staff who maintain them. Without their efforts we couldn’t have done so well,” she said. “We want to be the leading green council in Scotland.

“Having such a high proportion of flags shows our commitment to this. We know Fife’s beaches are among the best in the world—this is proof.”

Councillor Brian Goodall, who chairs the council’s housing and communities committee, added his congratulations and said Fife will invest an extra £240,000 in maintaining and upgrading its coastline this year.

He added, “We also hope there will be economic spin-offs for the local communities thanks to these awards.

“We want to make Fife a great place to visit—here’s something the council and the local communities can and will use to achieve this.”

The Blue Flag campaign is administered in Scotland by Keep Scotland Beautiful on behalf of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE).

Flags are flying in 36 other countries and are awarded based on criteria, control and monitoring and all award-winning beaches are visited and assessed throughout the summer.

John Summers, chief executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful, congratulated all those responsible for maintaining Fife’s beaches—in particular Leven for its achievement.

“I am delighted that Leven has been awarded the Blue Flag for the first time following the recent announcement by environment minister Michael Russell that, having considered the Scottish Bathing Water Review Panel’s advice, it would become a designated bathing water— a prerequisite for Blue Flag winners.

“Since the beach award programmes first started in Scotland, Fife Council has led the way in beach management and there has been a gradual build-up in the number of awards issued in the area.

“The great news is that this means the people of, and visitors to, Fife have a greater choice of well-managed beaches to visit,” said Mr Summers.

In addition to the Blue Flags, several other Fife beaches have achieved Keep Scotland Beautiful seaside awards this summer. They are Billowness in Anstruther, Crail Roome Bay, Elie Ruby Bay, Pettycur Bay, Kingsbarns, Seafield in Kirkcaldy and St Andrews East Sands.