Church Cliff
We're really happy to announce that this location achieved bathing water status as of the 13 May 2024.
Lyme Regis Church Cliff Beach is a small sandy beach situated on the Dorset coast to the east of the River Lim. This bathing water was originally designated in 1988 and de-designated in 2016 due to low numbers of people bathing. In 2024 this site was re-designated.
Overflow locations
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.
Church Cliff storm overflow map
Investment programme up to 2025
The Cobb pumping station storm overflow was deemed the only overflow that had potential to impact Lyme Regis Front Beach.
Church Cliff beach has now been newly designated as a bathing water and all 7 overflows in Lyme Regis will now be reported against this beach.
We have invested around £2,900,000 including pumping station upgrades, improved the capacity at Uplyme sewage treatment works and around 730m of sewer lining completed in September 2024.
5 year overflow spill information
The data shown in the table below is the reported 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.
Number of spills
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goslings Bridge storm overflow, Lyme Regis | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gun Cliff pumping station overflow, Lyme Regis | 12 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 6 |
| Horn Bridge pumping station overflow, Lyme Regis | 36 | 42 | 21 | 34 | 25 |
| Jericho storm overflow, Lyme Regis | 12 | 13 | 43 | 12 | 9 |
| Mill Lane storm overflow, Uplyme | 2 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Uplyme sewage treatment works settled storm overflow | 68 | 45 | 81 | 30 | 73 |
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.