Fifty popular beaches around the UK are unlikely to meet water cleanliness standards

Tests under the latest European Bathing Water Directive could deem some of our favourite beaches unfit, leading to people being banned from going into the water from 2015.

The Environment Agency has warned that more than 50 popular sites around the UK are unlikely to meet water cleanliness standards.

Resorts including Blackpool in Lancashire, East Looe and Penzance in Cornwall and Lyme Regis, in Dorset, are at risk.

Other sites at Southsea in Hampshire, Hastings, East Sussex, and Walpole Bay, in Margate, Kent, could also be out of bounds to swimmers.

An Environment Agency spokesman said: If a beach does not pass the test, visitors will be told by way of a notice that bathing is not allowed or recommended in the water.

Tourism bosses said visitors will mistakenly think water quality has fallen if beaches are suddenly labelled unfit for swimming.

If a beach does not pass the test, visitors will be not told that bathing is not recommended

If a beach does not pass the test, visitors will be told by way of a notice that bathing is not allowed or recommended in the water

An Environment Agency spokesman

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Threat to close 50 of our favourite beaches