Folkestone and Hythe District Council is pressing ahead with plans to launch a £1.5 million watersports centre on a British beach, even as official warnings advise against swimming due to poor water quality.
The Changing Tides Coastal Centre is set to open in Greatstone on Romney Marsh later this year.
However, the Environment Agency (EA) has advised against swimming at neighbouring Littlestone beach since 2023.
While Greatstone itself is not designated for official bathing water testing, signs at the beach – including one next to the new centre – warn that swimming is not advised “due to poor water quality”.
Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC) has said that it “can only hope” that Littlestone’s current “poor” rating will improve when new test results are published in November.
Members of the nearby Varne Boat Club are questioning how the council expects the Coast Drive centre to operate while the guidance remains in place.
Zalan Paksy, the club’s commodore, said that their kayaks, life jackets, and paddles are “gathering dust in storage, having gone largely unused in recent years”.
“It beggars belief – the council is completely missing the link between the watersports centre and the bathing water results,” he said.
“What has stopped us operating for the past three years is not going to be any different for any other operator.
“It’s a serious issue for us, probably the most serious challenge the club has faced in decades.”
FHDC says it is in the final stages of agreeing a contract with a watersports operator said to have “considerable experience” in running similar leisure facilities.
The authority says they will be expected to deliver “training for a range of watersports”.
The development will also include 93 beach huts, as well as a cafe run by Reynolds Ice Cream.
A spokesperson said: “Further water testing will take place this summer and, together with residents and visitors, we can only hope there will be better results when they are published in November.
“The EA’s water rating has been challenging, but council officers have worked to secure businesses keen to take up the opportunities offered by both the concession [cafe] and the watersports centre.
“We are very pleased that the watersports centre should be opening soon.
“It is certainly due to be before publication of the water ratings in November.”
But Mr Paksy is unsure how the facility will succeed as he says his club last thrived in 2019 when it put on 1,100 free watersports activities for visitors.
He says it has been unable to return to those levels since the Covid pandemic and three consecutive years of poor water quality.
It is no longer able to offer free sessions, and those taking part in watersports must now enter the water “at their own risk”.
“We can’t put a wetsuit on someone and ask them to come into the water with us – we simply can’t be seen organising anything,” Mr Paksy said.
The club had previously built a £148,000 ramp into the sea, which is now heavily underused.
Mr Paksy says if the water quality remains classified as “poor”, the club could face “existential problems”.
Plans for FHDC’s development – which was initially expected to open by the end of last year – were approved by the authority in 2024.
The beach huts have been installed along a 175-metre stretch of coastline, painted in a bright spectrum of colours.
FHDC says contracts for the huts are being finalised and keys are being handed over, with some still available.
Nearby Dymchurch beach also received a “poor” rating in November, but St Mary’s Bay, between Dymchurch and Littlestone, is currently classed as “sufficient”.
On Saturday, about 150 protesters gathered at Sunny Sands in Folkestone to take part in a ‘Surfers Against Sewage Paddle Out’ event.
The beach has held a “sufficient” water quality rating since 2023.
