How contaminated are North Tyneside beaches? How to to get information for Tynemouth, Whitley Bay and more

North Tyneside beaches throughout the summer are at the busiest they will be all year.

But with so many people heading to the coast – and concerns about sewage overflows at Britain’s beaches ongoing – it’s vital to know how clean coastal water is across the North East.

How can I check before I head to the beach?

The group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) has launched the newest version of a helpful interactive map which shows up to date pollution forecasts at over 400 coastal locations across the UK, including a handful in and around North Tyneside.

This tracks sewage overflows which may impact popular coastal locations and pollution risk forecasts to give beach goers a full understanding of the quality of the water they could be swimming in.

The alerts are put into four categories, the first shows there are no alerts in place, a second which shows there is a risk warning in place, another which suggests water quality information is not available and a fourth which means local sewer systems are under maintenance and real time alerts have been disabled.

These are updated on a daily basis so keep an eye out before your head to the coast.

Read Newcastle's news on the go with our free email newsletters - bringing the headlines to your inbox. Catch up on the day's news and sport and enjoy even more from the NewcastleWorld team. Visit our website here to find out more and sign up.

Where else can I get information on water quality?

Further information can be found from The Rivers Trust, which has signalled two points of interest close to Tynemouth Beach. These are two combined sewage overflows which are designed to collect rainwater, domestic sewage and industrial wastewater in the same pipe and remove any additional waste which have overflowed into the mouth of the Tyne in the past. The Rivers Trust claim they spilled a combined 53 times over 2022.

What is the situation in North Tyneside?

The vast majority of the coast is in a good state at the time of writing according to Surfers Against Sewage. The vast majority of local beaches are safe to swim at although bathing at Cullercoats Beach not advised due to “poor annual classification”.