Cornwall’s beaches have received a record number of Blue Flag and Seaside Awards.

Keep Britain Tidy, the organisation responsible for the awards in the UK, has announced that 15 beaches in Cornwall have been awarded either one, or both accolades.

The Blue Flag, an international quality mark for beaches, is widely considered the gold standard and reassures visitors and residents that Cornwall’s beaches are clean, safe and recommended, boosting tourism, business and helping inspire return visits.

Thanks to the hard work of local beach champions, Cornwall Council, sponsors Sharp’s Brewery who donated £57,000 towards applications and Visit Cornwall, eight beautiful beaches across Cornwall have received the Blue Flag award.

Crooklets near Bude and Polzeath join Widemouth, Trevone near Padstow, Great Western in Newquay, Porthtowan, Porthmeor in St Ives, and Gyllyngvase in Falmouth as beaches that can proudly fly a blue flag.

Those eight beaches, plus seven more in Cornwall, also received Seaside Awards, which recognise beaches in England that achieve the highest standards of beach management and water quality.

The newest addition to the award-winning Cornish beach team is Portreath which will now be flying its Seaside Award flag. The other beaches to receive Seaside Awards are Summerleaze in Bude, Porth near Newquay, Perranporth, Porthminster in St Ives, and Sennen Cove, as well as all those that received Blue Flag status.

Blue Flags and Seaside Award flags, which are only given to coastal destinations that boast the highest qualities of water, facilities, safety, Keep Clean programmes, environmental education and management, will be hoisted up on Saturday May 15.

Sharp’s Brewery and Visit Cornwall provided the funding for Cornwall Council to make the applications for the awards.

Peter Marsh, Service Director for Environment at Cornwall Council, said: “It is fantastic to see that a record number of beaches in Cornwall have received these awards.

“Everyone who lives in Cornwall knows that our beaches are among the best in the world and this proves it.

“These awards are a testament to communities across Cornwall who volunteer their time to pick up litter from beaches and our teams who work so hard to keep Cornwall clean.

“They should all be rightly proud of these awards. I would also like to thank Sharp’s Brewery for once again playing a key role in sponsoring the Blue Flag and Seaside applications, and Visit Cornwall which also sponsored the award applications.”

The Blue Flag programme was launched in 1987 and is owned internationally by The Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), a non-governmental and non-profit organisation. Keep Britain Tidy administers the scheme in England. To be awarded a Blue Flag, beaches must comply with a number of criteria covering environmental education and information, water quality, environment management, safety and services.al

The Seaside Award is run by Keep Britain Tidy and recognises and rewards beaches in England that achieve the highest standards of beach management and, in the case of bathing beaches, meet the required standards for water quality.