Fife Beaches Prove Popular

Record breaking year for beaches across Fife and Scotland.

The independent environmental charity, Keep Scotland Beautiful has today announced the winners of its 2014 Scottish Seaside Awards with more beaches than ever receiving credit for environmental quality and an exceptional seaside experience.

A record-breaking 61 beaches have been recognised this year for their good water quality and excellent litter, safety, and environmental management procedures. Beaches flying the Seaside Award flag range from Dornoch Beach in the north east to Maidens Beach in South Ayrshire which has won the award for the first time.

The awards for 2014 have been unveiled by Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism, Fergus Ewing MSP, during a visit to Nairn Beach.

Celebrating some of the cleanest and best managed beaches in the country, the Seaside Award scheme has been used as a quality benchmark for Scotland's beaches for the past 22 years - with St Andrews West Sands in Fife, and Gullane Bents in East Lothian, winning every year since the awards were first introduced.

Seaside Awards help signpost visitors to the best managed areas of Scotland’s seaside and coastline.  The most recent visitor figures show that in 2013, the Year of Natural Scotland, there was an increase in the share of seaside holidays to 17% (from 14%) of all holiday trips.

Fife is home to 14 of Scotland's 61 award beaches which are recognised for their exceptional seaside experience including good water quality and excellent litter, safety, and environmental management procedures.

Robbie Blyth, Coastal Team Leader at Fife Coast and Countryside Trust, which manages and maintains Fife's beaches, commented: 

"Fife is Scotland's top outdoor tourism destination, and it is hugely rewarding that 14 of our beaches have been recognised for excellence in litter management, safety measures and water quality.

"We have invested in all these beaches to make them as accessible, safe and enjoyable as possible,  especially as they all lie along the Fife Coastal Path - Scotland's most popular coastal path."

Cllr Gavin Yates, Executive Spokesperson for Community Health & Wellbeing at Fife Council, said: 

"It's fantastic news that Fife's beautiful beaches have national recognition again this year. 

"Our coast is a hugely important factor in the health and wellbeing of Fifers as well as being a great tourist attraction that contributes towards local community economies. 

"The high standard of this year’s award winning beaches is a credit to the hard work of the local people that contribute to their upkeep as well as the partnership working of Fife Coast and Countryside Trust and Fife Council."

Mark Bevan, Head of Campaigns at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: 

"Scotland's beaches have something for everyone to enjoy - excellent environmental quality, bustling promenades, secluded bays and biodiversity rich shores. Therefore, maintaining standards is vitally important.

"Keep Scotland Beautiful is working to improve the quality of our local environment across the country, and we know that beaches are an important asset for local communities and their economies, so it is great to announce so many awards in recognition of excellent management this year."