THE owner of the UK's best beach has vowed to come down “like a tonne of bricks" on the water company alleged to have pumped record levels of sewage into the sea nearby.

Sir Geoffrey Newman, whose family has owned the award-winning Blackpool Sands since the 1950s, told The Sun he was "absolutely devastated and furious" at reports sewage was discharged nearby by South West Water 65 times last year, lasting 1,014 hours.

The beach, near Dartmouth, Devon, was named the best in the UK by Conde Nast Traveller last month and holds a Blue Flag award for its clean water.

But new research published last week by the Liberal Democrats found sewage levels pumped at Blackpool Sands were the worst of any Blue Flag beach in the country.

Sir Geoffrey said he didn't believe the figures could be accurate as Environment Agency water tests conducted every fortnight had never found a problem.

He said: "If, by any chance, the sewage figures are true we're gonna be hitting South West water demanding answers as to what's going on with their local sewage works.

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"I will be on to South West Water like a ton of bricks. Independent tests show it doesn't affect us. But even so, that shouldn't be happening.

"I was chairman of the Marine Conservation Society for eight years so I'm perfectly well aware of this sort of pollution and worry about beaches. We absolutely concentrate on keeping this place clean and tidy and of high quality. And we're famous for that. 

"That's why this was a complete shock and absolutely awful. I am furious.”

'Utterly catastrophic'

Sir Geoffrey, and his son Rob Newman who also manages the beach, say they are investigating and would not rule out legal action – either to the water company or the Lib Dems if the claims are proven to be false.

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Sir Geoffrey said: “I’m on to South West Water and I’m on to the Environment Agency and I want the evidence, where is the evidence that we are the worst?

“Until we have the evidence I wouldn’t like to say we will do anything major – but I’m also not ruling anything out.

"We are absolutely concerned about the damage this will do to our business, I am down here virtually every day and we have a huge mountain of visitors and they have got to be protected.

“All political parties are jumping on the bandwagon about how to stop sewage going into the sea and we absolutely agree with that but if they get things this wrong it’s totally and utterly catastrophic for us.”

As well as a Blue Flag, Blackpool Sands holds a Seaside Award from Keep Britain Tidy for its clean beach.

In the summer the beach also has its own events, including the annual music festival Tunes on the Sands which has previously included acts such as the Hoosiers, Scouting for Girls and The Wailers.

Rob added: "I swim in this water virtually every day, I have never had a problem or an issue, it has never been a consideration for me.”

Locals' fears

Reacting to the news of the sewage dumping, locals voiced concern that contaminated beaches would be devastating for Devon's tourism industry.

Ben Wrigley, 46, a gardener who has lived locally his entire life, said: "Water quality is so important here, considering beaches are the bread and butter of the local economy I can't believe water companies would be this reckless as to do this.

"When four of the top five are in Devon what does that say to the rest of the country? Even Blue Flag beaches are seeing record pollution but there is no real will from the Government to do anything."

In the nearby village of Stoke Fleming, locals also voiced their concerns about the damage to tourism.

One said: “I know that beach is clean, whatever anybody says it’s probably the cleanest beach in the whole country. People come here from all over the world because of that and the beach supports so many people and jobs nearby.”

Duncan and Harriet McGill, both 33, from London were visiting the area on holiday with their baby Florence. 

Harriet, who works in the charity sector, said: “I’ve been coming here more than 30 years with my family, this is like a second home to me. We got married on this beach last year.

"It's horrific if this has been happening, there hasn't been any notice at all. 

“All the beaches around here are popular but Blackpool Sands in particular is because it’s great for families and there’s lots of young kids here in summer because it’s so clean and so safe.

“I would definitely think twice about swimming in the water if I knew sewage had been pumped out recently but if you give it some time to clear it wouldn’t stop me."

Duncan, who works in finance, added: "It's really surprising, it's such a well looked-after beach. There's no visible mess and no smell. I just can't believe something like that is going on here."

Sewage spills

The study, conducted by the Liberal Democrats, used data from the Environment Agency to analyse which beaches saw the most sewage spills.

A whopping 1,504 sewage spills affected Blue Flag beaches in England last year, despite them being awarded the accolade for being safe and clean.

Environment secretary Therese Coffey said the Government would be looking at lifting the £250,000 cap on fines for water firms who release sewage into the water, as well as using the penalties to put money back into cleaning up the water systems.

Anyone who swims in polluted water can fall ill if they digest the water, as well as suffer from skin infections.

In 2021, Southern Water was fined a record £90million for deliberately pumping 16 to 21 billion litres of sewage into the sea between 2010 and 2015.

John Halsall, from South West Water, said: “We are reducing the use of storm overflows and our plan is working but there is more to do.

"We want everyone to feel confident about the water quality at their favourite beaches and to know that we are serious about reducing the use of storm overflows. 

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“The beaches in the South West belong to those who live in the region and are loved by those who visit. We need to stop the overuse of storm overflows.

"Sharing better data with the public is the right thing to do and that’s why we’ve installed 100 per cent monitoring on our storm overflows, ahead of target.”

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