Northumberland’s beaches are some of the very best in England for water cleanliness, according to a new study.

An impressive 12 bathing waters along the county’s coastline have once again been awarded the ‘excellent’ standard - the highest possible rating in European bathing water quality.

The beaches that have been rated as ‘excellent’ are Bamburgh Castle, Seahouses North, Beadnell, Low Newton, Warkworth, Amble Links, Druridge Bay North and South, Newbiggin North and South, Blyth South beach, and Seaton Sluice. Spittal beach was rated as good.

This means that all 13 pass the European standards.

The beaches were evaluated on water samples collected by the Environment Agency over the last three years.

Cllr John Riddle, cabinet member for Environment, Rural and Farming said: “To have so many beaches rated ‘excellent’ is really great news for the area.

“The Northumberland coast has a well-deserved reputation as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - for its natural beauty and wildlife - and we and our community partners work very hard to ensure our beaches are kept clean and tidy for the benefit of local people, as well as visitors to our region.

“We are exceptionally proud of our Northumberland coastline, and we can confidently say we have some of the finest beaches and cleanest bathing waters of anywhere in the UK.”

Across the North East, 24 beaches were rated excellent and nine were deemed good. Two failed to meet the minimum required and have been classified as poor. They are at Cullercoats and Littlehaven.

Jim Heslop, Environment Agency manager said: “Once again, it is fantastic to see that so many of our beautiful beaches here in the North East have been rated as Excellent or Good.

“Our monitoring work helps people make informed decisions about where to bathe, and results like this help boost tourism and the local economy.

"We are disappointed to see the ongoing failure to meet bathing water standards at Cullercoats and are committed to working with our partners to better understand what actions are needed to drive improvements.

“Littlehaven was only designated as a bathing water two years ago and investigations are underway to assess causes of failure and required actions for the future.”