Agenda item

Questions by Members of the Council

One valid question on notice has been received from Members of the Council for a response at this meeting.

Minutes:

1.         Question to the Elected Mayor by Councillor K Barrie

 

Can the Mayor tell me what the current quality of water levels are within Cullercoats Harbour?

 

Councillor C Johnson responded on behalf of the Elected Mayor as follows;

 

Northumbrian Water are responsible for the quality of bathing water within the Cullercoats Harbour area.

 

Water quality results are announced every Autumn by the Environment Agency and for 2018 this was poor.

 

To look at what poor water quality means in term of compliance by the Environment Agency, it is based on the previous 4 years of sample data taken by the Agency between May and September every year to assess the bathing water against strict regulations.

 

While almost all the samples at Cullercoats Bay indicate a healthy condition, a small number of spikes have led to the overall categorisation. 

 

I am surprised that Councillor Barrie has needed to ask this question in a meeting of full Council given that this information, relating to his own ward, is not only publicised on the Environment Agency’s website but was also discussed at length at his Ward briefing today, which he did not attend and it’s also referenced on beach signage at Cullercoats.

 

Councillor K Barrie asked the following supplementary question:

 

Can the Mayor confirm that swimmers were not advised to use the harbour due to possible risk in respect to the poor quality of the water, yet the paddle boarders were not restricted? 

 

Councillor C Johnson responded as follows;

 

The new rating will be announced very soon this year as to what poor water quality means and if you’ve see the signage in your Ward it tells you exactly what swimmers are advised and not advised to do.

 

But we know the coastline is a great part of North Tyneside and is a large part of our tourist offer and even though it’s Northumbrian Water’s responsibility, we have worked really hard with our partners and between us more than 500 hours and tens of thousands of pounds have been invested in finding a solution to the water quality in Cullercoats Bay.

 

A range of actions have already been undertaken to understand and resolve complex issues on privately-owned sites and public sites in the Ward, as well as in the Northumbrian Water network, including:

 

           DNA analysis to identify sources of pollution

           100 properties checked and 10 misconnected pipes repaired

           3,000m of pipe inspected with cameras

           150m of pipe coated with a special lining to prevent leaks

           Suspected ‘pollution pathways’ inspected using a special dye

           80 highways gullies checked for misconnections and pipework failures

           Six soakaways / gullies sealed to prevent foul water entering the ground

           Issues at private properties resolved

           More than 200 water samples taken

 

Weekly water testing has been undertaken since May this year and the results will be announced very soon in November when we hope to see an improvement as a result of the actions taken - the actions taken not just by the Council and its partners but also by Ward Councillors in Cullercoats Councillors Karen Lee and Willie Samuel who have constantly been pushing me on this issue all year and have been getting in touch to ensure we  get the water quality back to Cullercoats to what it should because we want our water and coast and every beach in North Tyneside to have a blue flag and hopefully this will be the case in November this year.

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