Agenda item

Speakers:

       i.         Claire Barrow (Environment Planning and Engagement Manager – Yorkshire)

     ii.         Martin Christmas (Area Environment Manager – Yorkshire)

    iii.         Mike Dugher (Area Director – Yorkshire)

The committee received a presentation from Martin Christmas, Area Environment Manager (Yorkshire), Environment Agency. Before the presentation, Mr Christmas provided replies to two public questions (see Minute 196 above).

Martin Christmas addressed the committee on behalf of the Environment Agency to explain its statutory role in bathing water management, emphasising that while the EA was not a public health body, it was responsible for bacteriological monitoring, incident response, investigation and public reporting. He outlined how bathing water classifications were derived from weekly sampling during the bathing season and assessed using a four‑year rolling average, noting that this meant single poor years could significantly influence classifications and that conditions could vary considerably year‑to‑year. He summarised the long‑term picture for Scarborough, highlighting the persistent poor classification at South Bay and the more variable performance of North Bay, and stressed that earlier large‑scale investment by Yorkshire Water had demonstrated that no single intervention could be relied upon to resolve such a complex problem. He presented findings from extensive investigations since 2014, including microbial source tracking and bacterial community profiling, which showed consistent human and seabird contributions at both bathing waters, occasional dog and ruminant inputs linked to rainfall and Scalby Beck, evidence of untreated sewage in Scalby Beck after rain, and confirmation that treated effluent from both Scarborough Wastewater Treatment Works and McCain’s could be detected at both bays, demonstrating both north‑to‑south and south‑to‑north water movement. He also reported evidence that bacteria could be mobilised from beach sand, confirmed that Scarborough Harbour was not a significant contributor, and updated members on recent regulatory inspections of Yorkshire Water assets, which identified actions but no permit breaches. He concluded by outlining planned activity for 2026, including continued compliance sampling, deployment of continuous water quality monitors in local becks, increased agricultural inspections in the Scalby Beck catchment, ongoing partnership working, and delivery of storm overflow reduction schemes through the AMP8 programme by 2030.

Members’ discussion

Following Martin Christmas’s presentation, councillors discussed the long‑standing nature of poor bathing water quality at South Bay and the more recent decline at North Bay, questioning whether any specific changes in infrastructure, development or pressures could explain the deterioration and noting that previous investigation had not identified a single definitive cause. Members explored the role of seabirds as a constant background influence rather than a recent change, while seeking reassurance that they should not be discounted entirely, and queried the relevance of human behaviour such as urination in the sea to E. coli readings. Significant concern was raised about agricultural runoff, including slurry spreading during wet conditions, the potential use of treated sewage sludge on farmland, and the need to understand how rainfall events and time lags influenced the appearance of human and animal waste markers at the coast. Councillors also highlighted possible additional sources within the catchment, including leaching from historic and current landfill sites, private septic tanks, and complex drainage associated with old mills and culverts along Scalby Beck. Discussion focused on the limitations of current sampling regimes, the difficulty of quantifying relative source contributions, and interest in more integrated, longer‑term and catchment‑wide monitoring approaches to complement compliance sampling. Members questioned how surface water, street‑cleaning runoff, overflow assets and sluice gates operated during heavy rainfall and flooding events, and whether asset management decisions might unintentionally exacerbate pollution. The discussion concluded with proposals for closer joint working between the council and the Environment Agency on gull management, landfill assurance, and other data sharing, and an acknowledgement that resolving bathing water quality required continued investigation, transparency and coordinated action across multiple agencies rather than reliance on any single intervention.

In response to a request by the committee, Mr Christmas undertook to provide detailed bacterial marker data for the North Bay and the South Bay and details of the pollution risk forecasting tools used by the Environment Agency in the locality.