No ‘silver bullet’ to stop sewage flowing onto Goodrington beach, councillors told
Torbay councillors have been told that there is no 'silver bullet' to solve the problem of sewage being released into the sea at Goodrington beach, despite the beach being awarded a 'Quality Standard' rating for cleanliness, water quality and maintenance.
Concerned Torbay councillors have been warned that there is no ‘silver bullet’ to solve the problem of sewage being released into the sea at the bay’s most popular beach.
Goodrington’s South Sands are packed with holidaymakers throughout the summer season, and the beach is the most popular with local bathers too.
But the beach has a concrete pipeline right in the middle of it, and when Paignton is hit by heavy rain, the pipe carries ‘overflow’ water which the town’s sewerage system can’t handle.
And that can mean ‘foul’ water being discharged.
Earlier this year a Torbay Council meeting heard that despite being by far Torbay’s most popular beach, having a summer dog ban, toilets,a car park and cafes, Goodrington would still not have qualified for a prestigious Blue Flag.
Torbay has now opted out of the Blue Flag scheme in favour of its own awards, and Goodrington now has a ‘Quality Standard’ rating for cleanliness, water quality and maintenance, the second-highest available.
Members of the bay’s overview and scrutiny committee heard from South West Water’s director of environmental regulation Alan Burrows.
He said the fact that water quality at all the beaches in Torbay was classified as excellent or good should be a cause for celebration, but Goodrington remained an issue.
Its 2026 rating will be either ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ but, he added: “We need to look at what we can do to move Goodrington from popping in and out of ‘excellent’ to ‘excellent’ all the time.
“We still have some work to do.”
He said the water company would need to look at the streams leading down to the pipe at Goodrington, one of which leads down from Great Parks and Tweenaway and runs through the grounds of Paignton Zoo.
The stream has a number of other connections leading into it, he said, and went on: “Dog faeces can have an impact as well, even if you ban dogs from the beach. They mess elsewhere upstream and it can still cause an impact.
“There is management that needs to be done to improve the quality, but there is no silver bullet for Goodrington.”