Shifting sands: How EU membership helped transform Blackpool beach
Britain’s beaches used to be filthy. Really filthy. So filthy that, back in the 70s and 80s, swimming in them could mean a splash through raw sewage.
Today, after nationwide clean up operation, our beaches are thankfully in much better shape. 99% of them have now been deemed safe for swimming.
How did such dramatic change come about? For years, the British government did little to stop water utilities or local councils from dumping sewage and waste. It wasn’t until the EU introduced policies that our beaches started to improve.
This Guardian article explains: “It took successful court cases against the UK, such as one in 1993 over Blackpool’s seafront, to drive the clean-up. It also took £30bn of investment by water and waste companies over 20 years, pushed along by EU directives.”
In 1990, photographer Vanessa Miles set out to record the awful condition Blackpool’s coastline was in. With her camera, she captured evidence of sands strewn with litter, sanitary products and human waste.
This summer Vanessa returned to Blackpool beach to see how things have changed. Her photos below, taken 26 years apart, show the dramatic improvement EU policies helped create.
