Selsey bathing water achieves 'excellent' status

The bathing water was awarded the classification by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) following monitoring by the Environment Agency between May and September.

Alison Stevens, divisional manager for environmental protection at Chichester District Council said: “This is wonderful news for residents and visitors and means people can enjoy the highest bathing water standards possible.

“Selsey bathing water was previously classified as good, but it has improved significantly over recent years."

Chichester District Council has been supporting a partnership project led by Southern Water to improve bathing water quality over the last two years.

Alison Stevens said: "This has been achieved through the partnership project with Southern Water and through our education and awareness-raising campaigns such as Yellow Fish, Only Rain Down the Drain and Against Litter.

“We are very pleased that the three monitored beaches within the Chichester District are now rated ‘excellent’.”