The two kilometres of immediately recognisable pebbles that make up Budleigh Salterton’s beach mark the western start of Devon’s Jurassic Coast. Part of this ancient World Heritage Coastline, Budleigh Salterton is popular with families due to its calm, clean waters which are perfect for bathing.
On the quieter, western end of the beach, large red cliffs rise up from the shoreline.
The more popular eastern end of Budleigh Salterton is home to the Otter Estuary and its nature reserve.
The map below shows the locations of the storm overflows that have the potential to impact water quality at this bathing water.
The map shows whether or not a storm overflow is currently active, the time and duration of the last spill at that location, and our investment commitments that are specific to that overflow.
The graphs below show the significant reduction in harmful bacteria in the Environment Agency’s (EA) water samples since the 1990s. E. coli and Intestinal Enterococci exist in all open water - they are found in human and animal poo, and get into the water via sewage spills, road drainage, agricultural livestock, or wildlife and birds. The EA uses the levels of these bacteria to decide whether to award this beach bathing water status.
To help reduce the risk of environmental impact from our sewerage network, and to contribute towards improving bathing water quality at Budleigh Salterton Beach, we have earmarked circa £2,000,000 of investment up to March 2025*.
Meadow Road storm overflow was improved in March 2022 to target a performance of 2 significant spills (greater than 50 metres cubed) per bathing season on average. A storm tank was constructed further up the catchment area and improvements are being completed within Meadow Road.
Major work to clean the 7.7km long rising main (the pressurised sewer pipe) from Lime Kilns pumping station to Maer Lane sewage treatment works is now complete. The work was completed in stages, with final operation finishing on the 10th November 2023.
We are also exploring opportunities in the catchment area for separating surface water from the sewerage system by 2025. This helps reduce the volume of water in the network and therefore helps reduce the need for storm overflows to operate.
The 2025-2030 investment programme is currently being scoped out. If you’re a community group or part of a local network and would like to have your say see ‘Your Beach, Your Say, Our Investment’.
*Amounts earmarked for investment may change dependent on the final design of the optimal solution and costings provided by our supply chain.
The data shown in the table below is the reported annual total spill number for each overflow which has been identified by the EA for this bathing water.
The assignment of an overflow to the bathing water does not always mean an impact will occur, it can be dependent on a number of factors such as tidal state and weather conditions. Sometimes it has been allocated just for investigation purposes and has no impact at all.
All data collected goes through vigorous quality assurance processes before being included in the counts. Sometimes debris can trigger false spills to be recorded, resulting in potentially higher than actual spill numbers.
2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Fore Street storm overflow, Budleigh Salterton | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Granary Lane Gas storm overflow, Budleigh Salterton | 32 | 11 | 16 | 6 |
Granary Lane storm overflow, Budleigh Salterton | 9 | 4 | 6 | 7 |
Lime Kiln storm overflow, Budleigh Salterton | 118 | 31 | 48 | 60 |
Little Knowle storm overflow, Budleigh Salterton | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Marine Parade storm overflow, Budleigh Salterton | 10 | 7 | 11 | 6 |
Meadow Road storm overflow, Budleigh Salterton | 8 | 0 | 14 | 17 |
The Green Tank storm overflow, Budleigh Salterton | 10 | 3 | 9 | 3 |
The beach profiles were created in line with information provided by our partners, Environment Agency, RNLI, Keep Britain Tidy, MCS - Beach Guide and British Beaches.