SEA water surrounding Tendring towns and villages has performed positively in a series of tests, despite beachgoers suffering breathing complications earlier this year.

The Environment Agency has now published its annual bathing water quality classification, which is based on tests carried out between May and September.

Mirroring results from last year, beaches in Dovercourt, Brightlingsea and Holland-on-Sea have again been awarded with a rating of ‘Excellent.’

Beaches in Walton and bathing areas located east of Clacton Pier, have also received ‘excellent’ ratings, improving on their ratings of ‘Good’ in 2018.

Elsewhere in the district, Jaywick Sands, Frinton and Clacton’s Martello Beach all continued to perform well and were again rated as ‘Good’ for another year.

The troublesome Groyne 41 area, however, which has had problems with poor water quality for several years, has unsurprisingly been given a rating of ‘Poor.’

As a result, the small section of beach will no longer be designated as a bathing beach.

Mike Carran, head of sport and leisure at Tendring District Council, said: “We work hard to maintain high quality beaches for Tendring residents and visitors to our district to enjoy.

“These are fantastic results, in particular at Walton and east Clacton, which are now consistently ‘excellent’, opening the door for possible Blue Flag applications for these beaches.

“While disappointing that Groyne 41 has again rated as ‘poor’, this is not surprising – despite leading experts have been investigating this over a long of period of time, and the source is still to be identified. Having this small section of beach de-designated means we can move on and focus on keeping our top-notch beaches the best they can be.”