Coastal councils from Northumberland to Conwy are poring over fresh bathing water rules signed on 27 October 2025. The statutory instrument, published on legislation.gov.uk as the Bathing Water (Amendment) (England and Wales) Regulations 2025, was laid before Parliament and the Senedd on 28 October, setting the terms for how beaches, rivers and lakes are managed for swimmers and visitors.

For England, most measures take effect on 21 November 2025, with two provisions - the new designation tests and a definition change - held back until 15 May 2026. Wales adopts the full package from 1 April 2026. Emma Hardy signed the regulations for Defra; Huw Irranca‑Davies signed for the Welsh Government.

A notable shift is the tougher gateway for adding new bathing waters. Ministers must not list a site where the Environment Agency (or Natural Resources Wales in Wales), after consulting the local authority, advises that achieving at least a “sufficient” classification would be infeasible or disproportionately expensive, or where large numbers of bathers would undermine environmental protection measures. Ministers can also decline a listing if there is likely to be a significant risk to bathers’ physical safety.

For communities across the North pushing for recognition of popular coves, urban beaches or river spots, this means more scrutiny. Areas with strong rips, narrow harbour mouths, sensitive dunes or ageing outfalls will face pointed questions about safety, ecology and affordability before winning bathing water status. Campaigns can continue - but the tests ministers can cite are now written down in detail.

The bathing season itself remains, by default, 15 May to 30 September. However, ministers can now set different dates for individual waters. They must make those calls before 15 May for the season ahead and can revoke them before the season starts. A public list of any site‑specific seasons must be kept up to date so swimmers and businesses can plan.

Public information requirements are tightened. Details on each listed site - including its classification and any site‑specific season - must be actively shared online and in appropriate languages by 15 May each year, or earlier if a bespoke season starts sooner. For northern resorts that trade on shoulder‑season events, that earlier publication route should help councils align signage and lifeguard cover with real‑world footfall.

The approach to chronic “poor” performers changes. Instead of automatic removal after five consecutive “poor” classifications, the agency must advise ministers whether improvement to at least “sufficient” is feasible and not disproportionately expensive within a specified period of up to five years. Ministers may allow that extra time. If they refuse, or if the site fails to improve within the period, permanent advice against bathing follows.

Rules on short‑term pollution are clarified. Once an incident is presumed over, the agency may take one extra sample to check conditions have recovered. Samples taken during the incident can be excluded from the dataset, with replacements taken so the minimum number required for the season is still hit. Public notices during incidents will now point people to the relevant agency rather than an individual contact.

During abnormal situations such as severe storms, the monitoring calendar can be suspended. After conditions settle, agencies must take enough samples to reach the seasonal minimum and can add extra tests to replace any that were set aside. There’s also a tidy‑up on how sample bottles are marked and linked to paperwork to improve traceability.

Annual reporting becomes simpler: after the end of the latest bathing season each year, ministers must publish a report covering that year’s season or seasons. Regulation 20 from the 2013 rules is removed, and definitions are updated - including a new definition of “environmental protection measures” and a revised description of “permanent advice against bathing.”

There’s a technical tweak to the statistics behind classifications, shifting a constant from 1.65 to 1.645 in the percentile calculation. It aligns the method with standard 95% one‑sided thresholds - a small calibration with no obvious effect on a day at the beach, but important for consistency in how results are calculated.

Government expects no significant impact on the private, voluntary or public sector from this instrument. The practical changes for the North will show up from spring 2026 as councils, harbour teams and tourism operators adjust sampling calendars, signage and, in some places, the length of the official season. If you run a seaside business or open‑water club, speak to your council’s environmental team over winter and watch for pre‑season updates from the Environment Agency.