Britain’s oldest seaside town being 'ruined by human waste'

For children in Scarborough’s poorest areas, the sea offers a form of escape.

Life in the North Yorkshire seaside resort can be tough, from the challenge of being the UK’s lowest-paid place to having areas in the bottom 1percent most deprived in England, crime and drugs have ravaged this once-famous town. 

The sea, at least, was where people could forget about those woes. 

Richard Togwell, a local teacher, remembers vividly how one of his students was transformed during a free surfing lesson from a local business.

He explained: “She was about 14 or 15 and had a pretty really tough few years.

“A young person with so much on her shoulders, she was so stressed that she couldn't function.

“We took her in the sea and in the first go was standing up on a surfboard. When she came out afterwards she just said ‘I just completely forgot about all my problems for that hour.’

“She had it pretty awful in, as bad as it possibly could be for a young person. So for her to forget it all, just for a bit, was powerful.”

Her experience in the water was far from unique. It’s often the case that students at the local Pupil Referral Unit (PRU)-a specialist school for students who for varying reasons have fallen out of mainstream education-Togwell teaches at, find these sessions a huge release. 

But for the past few months, the children haven’t been able to go in the water, nobody has.

Around Easter, Lifeguards raised red flags on Scarborough’s South Bay because the sea was too dirty for people to swim in.

Although the beaches have now reopened, the work Togwell and his colleagues have been doing with the local children took a hammer blow. 

“A lot of our pupils have had trauma in their lives,” he continued, “they get stuck at whatever age they had that trauma say it was three, they get stuck at three. They miss out on opportunities to play in the sand or go paddling in the sea. Not being able to go in the water means we can't put those missing bits back into those kids' lives.”

The impact isn’t limited to the mental health of Scaborough’s most vulnerable. Having dirty sea water wreaks havoc on the local economy by effectively closing the area’s biggest asset to its main moneymaker: tourists. 

Tampons in rock pools

Issues with pollution in Scarborough stretch back over half a century. 

Battles over the area's sewage outflow pipes, which discharge untreated human waste into the sea during heavy rainfall, have raged for decades.

Unfortunately, the sight of clear blue water stained with a brown cloud of waste remains a regular sight, Express.co.uk was sent the above image of waters near the town just last week. 

Even more disgusting is the debris of wet wipes and tampons these sewage dumps leave on the beaches sand and rockpools. 

Local surf shop owner and instructor Steve Crawford finds he spends more time inspecting disgusting beaches than teaching people how to ride a wave.

“One pipe went for five hours one day, discharging raw sewage straight into the sea,” Crawford told Express.co.uk, “it was less than half a mile from the bathing waters of North Bay and those are an area which is supposed to be okay. It's a systematic problem.”

A man who loves the North Yorkshire coastline, Crawford has been a passionate campaigner on the issue of pollution. 

The problem, he explained, is that even when an area is deemed safe for swimming the method for testing, collecting water in a vial, only provides the briefest of snapshots.

“Basically it’s like if you open your curtains a little tiny crack once a week and look outside. You’ll see what is happening in a very, very small part of the world. They’re testing one bit, one time every week or two and basing everything on that one test. Rather than being constant or reactive to when something's happened.”

McCain pain

The problem for Scarborough is that it’s not just sewage affecting its waters.

For over 50 years, a chip factory owned by McCain has had a pipe, operated by Yorkshire Water, discharging starchy washing water generated in the production of its famous oven chips in the waters around two miles offshore.

Bacterias feed off the starch and make their way back to the beaches of Scarborough, mixing with the sewage and making for some very dirty water.

The quantities being spewed out by McCain and Yorkshire Water are substantial, each year 1.4 million metric tonnes of washing water flows into the sea.

Glimpses of the grey sludge the pipe discharges have been witnessed on the occasions it has ruptured, most recently in 2013.

But complaints from locals about the chipmaker have been less forthcoming, Crawford claims.

“This has been going on since 1969, but has been kept really quiet because no one likes to take on a big company that is a major local employer,” he said.

When asked about unsafe water and the pipe from its factory a McCain Spokesperson said: “There are many factors impacting water purity in Scarborough and as a proud, local business we are always conscious of being a responsible neighbour. 

“That’s why our water disposal, handled by Yorkshire Water, has always been fully compliant with the Environment Agency regulations and guidelines. 

“In fact, McCain is investing over £23million in upgrading its water purification processes to one of the most sophisticated water treatment plants of its type in the UK.”

The ‘crown jewels’ gone

One of Scarborough’s claims to fame is that it’s Britain’s original seaside resort.

A book about the town’s spa waters published in 1660 saw people flock to the ‘Scarborough Spa' and, in the years which followed, the popularity of ‘Scarbados’ only increased.

Like many of Britain’s proud seaside towns, cheap package holidays to destinations with guaranteed sunshine saw the resort fall on hard times. 

But Covid-19 turned the tide, with international travel suddenly restricted, huge numbers rediscovered Scarborough and the town underwent a renaissance.

“People who travelled abroad suddenly realised how nice Britain can be,” Crawford added, “People who'd not been here since they were kids came back and it was lovely to hear people say nice things about Scarborough. A lot of them were bringing their kids.”

Having unsafe water has been a gut punch. Some businesses like Crawford’s have no way to function, while others are deeply affected by having to warn people against swimming in the sea. 

“That’s our crown jewels, the thing that's really important,” he said.

“But if a family if you came with their kids and went to walk down the beach, having got a nice hotel, and all they see is a sign with a red circle and a swimmer in the middle of it saying ‘don't go in’, they're not going to feel good about where you are staying are they?

“I adore this town, it is a fantastic place and all this stuff just makes me so sad. 

“We need to sort of have a proper conversation about how to solve it, rather than just sort of say,  it's not a problem, or we'll do it later.”

Yorkshire Water and DEFRA responds

Responding to the issues raised in this article a Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: “There are many sources that can have an effect on bathing water quality including storm overflows, agricultural and industrial inputs, wildlife, birds and road drainage. Scarborough South’s classification fell from ‘sufficient’ in 2021 to ‘poor’ in 2022 despite the number of sewage discharges on Yorkshire’s coastline reducing by half. 

“The sufficient classification in 2021 was the first time the beach had achieved this since 2015. This highlights how complex it can be to identify the specific reasons for poor bathing water quality and why we must understand the other influences in the catchment, which the Bathing Water Partnership – ourselves, the Environment Agency and North Yorkshire Council – are trying to understand. 

“The investment we outlined in 2010 as part of our business plans saw £110m invested in our operations along the coast to improve bathing waters. This included upgrades at treatment works in Scarborough and other parts of the coast and an increase in storage within the network to reduce discharges during rainfall and storm events. All of these improvements were delivered by 2015.

“Tackling storm overflows is a priority for us and we are intending to bring forward investment from 2025-2030 to improve the operation of Wheatcroft overflow at Scarborough, under Ofwat’s accelerated infrastructure delivery project, to meet the government’s storm overflow reduction plan requirement for coastal bathing waters of an average of two spills per bathing water season.”

An Environment Agency spokesperson, added: “We are unequivocal that polluting our seas is unacceptable.

“Scarborough South Beach remains open whilst we investigate potential sources of pollution impacting the quality of its waters. We advise bathers to check Swimfo so they can continue to make informed decisions about entering the water, including when and where to swim.”

An additional quote was provided by Yorkshire Bathing Water Partnership, which includes Yorkshire Water, North Yorkshire Council and the Environment Agency, who said:

“We know there is more to do at Scarborough South Bay to improve water quality and we are determined to take action at these important tourist destinations.

“Work is underway to understand what is causing the poor water quality at the sites and we’ll continue to work together to better identify the sources affecting the bathing waters and take action to improve the beach environment.” 

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