Largo MSP, Jenny Gilruth, met with the local community and stakeholders to celebrate Lower Largo’s recent beach bathing award for the 2022 season this week.
The local MSP has been working with local residents in Lower Largo since 2019, in their campaign to achieve improved water quality at the local beach in Lower Largo.
Following on from the successful application, which recently saw the Minister for Environment and Land Reform, Màiri McAllan MSP approve beach bathing status for the 2022 season, Jenny Gilruth MSP met with representatives of the Largo Area Community Council and Scottish Water to mark this achievement.
Starting this summer, Scottish Water and SEPA will be undertaking testing in order to assess the water quality and the pollution contributions from local assets and waterways. This will allow Scottish Water and SEPA to consider the methods required to improve the water quality in the local area.
Commenting, Jenny Gilruth MSP said:
“It was a great opportunity to meet in-person, with local residents Matt Allan & Louise Robb alongside Scottish Water, for the first time since beaching bathing status was granted earlier this year.
“It is through the tireless efforts of local campaigners, particularly Matt Allan, which has led to the campaign’s success.
“Of course there is still a lot of work to do in order to improve the water quality here at Lower Largo. I look forward to continuing to work with the local community to ensure that Lower Largo’s beach bathing status is improved for all to enjoy”.
Matt Allan, Vice Chair of the Largo Area Community Council said:
“ Achieving Designated Bathing Beach Status for Lower Largo is a major milestone in the community’s endeavour towards achieving a pollution free environment. It is beneficial on many levels. In the last two years, more than 1000 individuals have joined the local group and have enjoyed swimming here at Lower Largo. We hope this trend will continue to grow.
“The Beach Designation should also benefit the local economy and provide another tourism asset for Fife, encouraging people to visit and contributing to the experience of visiting our beautiful county.
“LACC would particularly like to thank our MSP Jenny Gilruth, who has assisted with this project from the outset. The Community Council are also very appreciative of the contributions made by Louise Robb and Emily MacDonald of the Largo Communities Together Charity and Robbie Blyth of Fife Coast Countryside Trust who guided the early stages of the application. Thanks also to members of the community who got behind this project with enthusiasm.”
Scottish Water representative, Scott Fraser, said:
“Scottish Water are committed to continuing to support the protection and improvement of Scotland’s rivers, coastal waters and beaches.
“We look forward to playing our part in ensuring the new bathing waters become destinations for people to enjoy Scotland’s fantastic coastal waters.
“We have a programme of work taking part this year in Lower Largo, to understand any impact our waste water system has on the water quality and we are committed to working with SEPA and others to deliver any improvements identified as needed.”
Nathan Critchlow-Watton, SEPA Interim Head of Function; Water and Planning, added:
“In order to better understand bathing water quality issues, SEPA is taking samples throughout the bathing season. Water sampling allows SEPA to provide information to the public and to classify the Bathing Water at the end of the Bathing Season.
“We also welcome Scottish Water’s commitment to carry out further studies to enable them to understand the scale of investment required to help improve water quality.”
ENDS
