Popular local beaches win national awards
Environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful has announced that eight of East Lothian’s favourite beaches have been awarded the prestigious Scotland’s Beach Award.
The 2023 award winners include Gullane Bents, which celebrates 31 years of award status, Belhaven Bay, Longniddry Bents, Longniddry Gosford, North Berwick Milsey Bay and North Berwick West Beach, Dunbar East Beach and Yellowcraig.
This summer, beach goers can visit one of 52 award winning beaches spanning the Scottish coastline from Aberdeenshire to the Scottish Borders.
In total eight beaches in East Lothian have been recognised with Scotland’s Beach Award - the only national benchmark for local environmental quality celebrating clean, well-managed and sustainable beaches.
Jamie Ormiston, Awards Officer at Keep Scotland Beautiful said, “Scotland's Beach Awards are the benchmark for quality, celebrating clean, well-managed and sustainable beaches. Our award-winning beaches demonstrate excellent beach management and we hope that all who visit this year play their part in keeping them beautiful. I’d like to thank all those in East Lothian who do so much to protect, maintain and enhance our beaches, protecting the sand and sea for us all to enjoy.”
East Lothian Council’s Spokesperson for Community Wellbeing, Cllr Colin McGinn, said: ‘East Lothian’s beaches are popular attractions for local residents and visitors and it’s great that once again the hard work carried out by council staff and volunteers in managing and keeping the beaches at their best is recognised.”
In order to achieve Scotland’s Beach Award, a range of criteria must be met, including beach safety, access and facilities, and cleanliness. Focusing on local environmental quality, the award is designed to complement the work undertaken by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency on bathing water quality. The full criteria can be accessed here
A map showing all the award-winning beaches with directions, facilities and images can be found at www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/beach