Croyde Beach, owned and managed by Parkdean Resorts’ Ruda Holiday Park, has won a prestigious Blue Flag for 2023.
Awarded by Environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, the Blue Flag and Seaside Awards are aimed at improving the quality of England’s coastline and promoting the country’s best beaches. This year Croyde Beach has met the high standard required to be awarded both the Blue Flag and Seaside Award, which recognise and celebrate the country’s best beaches as international Blue Flag celebrates its 36th year.
The team at Ruda Holiday Park has worked hard to keep the beach clean and improve the water quality, and carry out regular beach cleans alongside volunteers from the local community to ensure it remains safe for swimmers, surfers, and walkers, as well as the diverse flora and fauna which inhabit the beach and nearby sand dunes.
Last year, the team carried out more than 100 beach cleans, collecting almost 500 body boards, 120 tents, 100 chairs, over 40 windbreaks, and countless broken beach toys, shoes, goggles and much more. The team also takes part in the Marine Conservation Society’s Great British Beach Clean week every year, and last year over 30 generous volunteers also joined, collecting a total of 4.2kg of litter. This data has helped further the Marine Conservation Society’s conservation work, and was also included in the International Coastal Clean-up.
Managed by Beach Manager, Holly Robertson, the team has also come up with creative ways to help keep Croyde Beach clean and educate locals about the importance of tidying up. In 2022, the team joined forces with Sarah Jellard, Director of Community Environmental Educational Therapy (CEET) CIC, pupils from Pilton College, Pilton Bluecoats and Marland School, and local beach artists, Karen Atkinson, and Jill Burley, to create a giant, temporary mural of a whale to highlight the scale of rubbish left at Croyde Beach each year.
Measuring in excess of 45 metres in length – even longer than a Blue Whale – the mural comprised more than 120 beach tents and chairs, over 40 windbreaks, and countless broken beach toys, shoes, goggles and much more.
Testament to this ongoing work of the beach team in removing such significant amounts of rubbish, Croyde Beach has also recently achieved an Excellent water quality ranking, which is the highest, cleanest water quality that can be awarded by the Environment Agency, meaning the water is clean and safe for beach-goers.
Holly Robertson, Beach Manager at Ruda Holiday Park, said: “Keeping our beach clean and safe for our visitors is our priority at Croyde, and we’re delighted to have been awarded the Blue Flag and Seaside Award to demonstrate this achievement. We’ve worked hard to reduce the amount of rubbish left on the beach and to educate the local community about how important this is, and we’ll continue to hold our beach cleans and activities to keep spreading this message.”
Jane Bates, Director of Procurement and Sustainability at Parkdean Resorts, said: “Caring for our parks, people and planet is our priority at Parkdean Resorts, and Holly and the 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 with the Blue Flag and Seaside Award.”
Keep Britain Tidy’s Chief Executive, Allison Ogden-Newton OBE said: “Visitors to a beach flying a Blue Flag or Seaside Award 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.
“We’d therefore like to recognise and applaud all those who have worked so hard to protect and improve some of our best-loved and most popular beaches. The collective efforts of beach managers, volunteers, residents and businesses all contribute to the success of these sites in achieving the incredibly high standards demanded.”
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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