South Lakes MP Tim Farron has slammed the decision by the Secretary of State for the Environment to deny ‘bathing water status’ to Coniston Water and the River Kent at Staveley.

The decision follows a campaign by activists in both locations for the status, given the number of tourists and residents that bathe in the areas. In a reply to the applications from DEFRA they justified the decision by saying both the applications ‘did not meet the criteria’.

However, in neither the reply nor the initial application process has the Department laid out what the criteria are.

He has written to the DEFRA Secretary to demand answers on what the criteria actually are and how many applications have been successful within the last 12 months.

In his letter he said: “The only reason I and others can see this decision as being justified is that you are under the impression that not enough people bathe in these waters for the status to be necessary, which is simply not the case.

“The Lake District is the second most popular tourist destination within the UK. We see almost 16 million visitors every year. The majority of those visitors come to bear witness to the natural beauty we are lucky enough to live next to, which a lot of them do by swimming.

Clean the River Kent campaigners are also calling for more government transparency.

For an area of a river to achieve bathing water status it needs to prove that it has a low level of e.coli and intestinal Enterococci.

Last year, the campaign spent money on sampling at Staveley Recreation Ground, Beckmickle Ing, Burneside Millenium Green, Sandy Bottoms, Hawes Bridge and Sedgwick which was reviewed by private laboratory ALS Coventry. 

A large part of the reason why river campaigning groups are applying for bathing water status is that it then means the section of the river is held to a higher standard by the Environment Agency. 

This has proved successful for other campaigns such as the section of the Wharfe running through Ilkley in Yorkshire. 

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When the campaigners tested the River Kent last year the report stated: "We believe that this is the first time that information on faecal pathogens has been published for the River Kent.

"This unique study signals risks to human health and serious concerns for ecology and wildlife in a river which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), an international Special Area of Conservation (SAC), and which flows through a UNESCO world heritage site."

Sheila Adam of the Clean River Kent Campaign told The Guardian newspaper: "We don’t get any information at all, we don’t know why we were unsuccessful – it might be numbers, but they have not told us what the numbers required are. We will be seeking to find out why. We are trying to tell all our volunteers and donors to tell them we are not giving up, the fight goes on." 

DEFRA said that it does not comment on individual applications.

It said that the criteria it looks at include how many people bathe there, if the site has suitable facilities such as toilets and if measures are being taken to promote bathing in those waters.