Author: Sal
Ventnor Beach Wins Blue Flag Status
Thursday, 5th June, 2008 at 12:01 am, Isle of Wight
Great news reaches us this week that Ventnor Beach has once again been awarded Blue Flag Status!
This is fabulous news, not only for visitors to our lovely beach, but it should have a great knock-on effect for the whole town.
There has been a huge amount of effort put into winning the award, so everyone involved should be heartily congratulated!
The last time Ventnor Beach was awarded a Blue Flag was back in 2003, but unfortunately due to a lack of regular lifeguards on the beach - we didn’t get awarded the next time round.
Beach Safety A Must
Back in late 2005/early 2006, a group of people concerned about the need for beach safety, formed the Ventnor Beach Safety Group (Sophie Blake, Mark Compton-Hall and Peter Redding). Through the use of grants they managed to buy in equipment and train up a team of lifeguards, who by the summer of 2006 worked the beach on a voluntary basis.
Later that year, you might recall how Sophie Blake led a rescue to help two young lads who’d got into trouble off the rocks by the Spyglass.
She was awarded by the RLSS for her bravery and not long after that the Council agreed to provide paid lifeguards to the beach.
What’s Needed For A Blue Flag?
This accolade isn’t handed out willy-nilly. In order to gain Blue Flag status there’s a whole heap of requirements that have to be met. Firstly, there needs to have been paid lifeguards on the beach for at least a year, so that’s one thing off the check list!
The two educational initiatives that we wrote about earlier in the week, the Rockpool Survey and the Beach Use Survey are both critical for Blue Flag qualification. As are the recycling bins that you will now see placed at the bottom of the cascade.
Water Quality
You’ll also remember that we reported a short while ago that the Marine Conservation Society tested the Ventnor water quality between May-Sept 2007 and recently awarded the beach with a recommendation stating ‘highest water quality and good sewage treatment’.
These are just a handful of the criteria needed to be met in order to win the Blue Flag status. Once again, well done to everyone involved.
With that one out of the way, perhaps efforts can be concentrated on pedestrianising the esplanade for certain times of the day, during certain months of the year.
Image of Ventnor Beach: John The Nomad
Awards, Conservation, Environment, Ventnor
Email This Story To A Friend
June 5th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Congratulations to Ventnor on gaining the Blue Flag. Most of the criteria had been met previously, but the addition of the full-time paid lifeguards was the crucial factor. A big thanks to the IOW Council. The pedestrianising of the esplanade for certain times of the day, during certain months of the year, is a non-starter. Don’t even go there!
Regards.
Dave
June 7th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
strange that ventnor didn’t fiure in
June 7th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Dave,
The Council is quite a way into an 18 month study on road conditions on the Western Esplanade.
The majority of businesses on the esplanade are in favour of a major reduction in traffic either by pedestrianisation or traffic calming and isolation. The results of making changes to the seafront last year were very well received by the majority of seafront businesses who said the changes were of huge benefit to them.
On that basis I would not describe pedestrianisation as a non starter. It is an option to make the seafront more accessible, and also safer.
Pedestrianisation (as described by Sal) is a very real option, and one that would be welcomed by the majority of the businesses in that area.
Please check out these threads (for example) in the discussion forum relating to this:
http://www.ventnorblog.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=307&highlight=pedestrianisation
http://www.ventnorblog.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1130&highlight=pedestrianisation
http://www.ventnorblog.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=735&highlight=pedestrianisation
June 11th, 2008 at 10:47 am
[...] at 10:47 am (5 seconds ago), Isle of Wight 16, June 200812:00 pmFollowing the fantastic news that Ventnor has once again been awarded a Blue Flag, Mayor Susan Scoccia announced on Monday that a hoisting ceremony for said Blue Flag will take [...]
June 13th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
if the esplanade is pedestrianised then it would be nice to have a bit of a cafe culture and decent seafood restaurants as well as the good old fish n chips.
If we have decent restaurants, then ventnor can be a destination town, but hopefully not to the extent of padstow!
June 16th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
[...] Monday, 16th June, 2008 (1 minute ago) at 2:02 pm (1 minute ago), Isle of Wight The skies were blue, the sun was shining and there was a great turnout this afternoon for the official hoisting of the new Blue Flag for Ventnor. [...]