Croyde Beach, owned and managed by Parkdean Resorts’ Ruda Holiday Park, has had its prestigious Blue Flag and Seaside Awards renewed for 2024.
Awarded by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, the Blue Flag award recognises beaches meeting exemplary standards across environmental, educational, safety, and accessibility criteria. For the second year in a row, Croyde Beach has met the high standard and Excellent water quality ranking required to fly the Blue Flag.
Croyde Beach has also had its Seaside Award renewed – an annual award presented by Keep Britain Tidy to England’s best beaches, celebrating the quality and diversity of our coastline. Both awards recognise the hard work of the Beach Rangers at Ruda, managed by Beach Manager Holly Robertson, who are dedicated to keeping the beach clean and improving its water quality for locals, holidaymakers, and native species.
The team takes part in numerous beach cleans throughout the year, including the Marine Conservation Society’s annual Great British Beach Clean. At last year’s event the team at Ruda collected 14 bags of litter from North Devon’s coastline, weighing in at a total of 26.5kg or more than 58lbs.
Testament to this ongoing work, Croyde Beach has had its Excellent water quality ranking renewed for 2024 by the Environment Agency. Excellent is the highest, cleanest water quality that can be awarded and is a necessity for the Blue Flag award, signifying that the water is clean and safe for beachgoers.
The team is also committed to maintaining and growing local biodiversity. As part of its David Bellamy Blooming Marvellous Pledge For Nature, the team at Ruda are in the midst of a project to enhance habitats for four species on the Devon Special Species list which are either rare or locally extinct: brown-banded carder bees, greater horseshoe bats, willow tits and beachcomber beetles.
Holly Robertson, Beach Manager at Ruda Holiday Park, said: “Keeping our beach clean and safe for visitors is our top priority at Ruda, and we’re delighted to have been awarded the Blue Flag and Seaside Awards for the second year.
“We’ve worked hard over the past few years to reduce the amount of rubbish left on the beach and improve Croyde Beach’s water quality to Excellent, allowing us to fly the Blue Flag. We’ll continue to hold beach cleans, educate beachgoers on the importance of taking their litter home, and support local species that need a helping hand to ensure Croyde Beach is a wonderful place to be for all.”
Jane Bates, Director of Procurement and Sustainability at Parkdean Resorts, said: “Caring for our parks, people and planet is our mission at Parkdean Resorts, and Holly and her team at Ruda are the perfect example of putting this into practice. The work they have put into keeping the beach and water safe and clean is a real achievement, and we’re thrilled this work has been recognised once again by Keep Britain Tidy.”
Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Chief Executive at Keep Britain Tidy, said: “These awards are a credit to the collective efforts of beach managers, volunteers, residents and businesses who have worked tirelessly to maintain, protect and improve some of our best-loved and most popular beaches and we’d like to take this moment to recognise and applaud them.
“Visitors to a beach flying a Blue Flag can be assured the beach will be clean, safe and meet the highest environmental standards, as well as international bathing water quality standards.
“The Blue Flag is the world’s most recognised award for beaches and marinas 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.”
Blue Flag is an international award managed by Keep Britain Tidy on behalf of the Foundation for Environmental Education. It is only presented to well-managed beaches with water quality defined as ‘Excellent’ under the EU Bathing Water Directive and environmental education programmes, while 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
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
Environmental management, including litter and waste
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