St Annes North

United Kingdom Coastal 3 - Sufficient

The bathing water is extremely flat in profile and sandy with up to 300 metres of sand exposed at low tide. Sand dunes run along the coastline to the north of the bathing water. There is an active sand quarry to the north of St Annes North bathing water.

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Water

Coastal bathing water

Location

Fylde, Lancashire, Fylde District

Season

Designated bathing water since 1988. Official monitoring season runs from May to September.

Water Quality

Sufficient (2025). Assessed under rBWD

Risks

The Sandgate Pumping Station, Abercorn Place, and the Wetherby & Albany Avenue overflows located to the north of the bathing water are no longer in use. The flows have been diverted away from the bathing water by United Utilities.
There are numerous storm, emergency and surface water outfalls that discharge to the River Ribble and its estuary. Sewer overflows operating during, and following, periods of heavy rain, can result in a fall in quality of bathing water at St Annes North. Fairhaven Pumping Station, which discharges to the south of St Annes North bathing water, has undergone significant investment to protect bathing water quality. In addition, a significant improvement programme to overflows around the Preston area was completed by United Utilities in 2013 to protect bathing water quality. The programme included the construction of a large storage tunnel (40,790 m3) to the south of the River Ribble to store storm flows as well as a number of other individual schemes to improve storm and emergency overflows.
As part of the improvement programme of work for United Utilities (from 2015 to 2021) the storm overflows from Chorley, Blackburn and Preston Sewage Treatment Works have been improved to protect bathing water quality. The programme also requires that storm overflows close to bathing waters have equipment installed to monitor spills to the environment. This will help to identify where bathing water improvements may be needed in the future.
This bathing water is included in the Surfers Against Sewage “Safer Seas Service”. This service can alert you to Combined Storm Sewer Overflow discharges via a phone App and in addition, it includes the Environment Agency Pollution Risk Forecast warnings where they are available. Further details of the service can be found at - http://www.sas.org.uk/safer-seas-service/ and via United Utilities website at http://www.unitedutilities.com/Bathing-Waters-Map.aspx.