A POPULAR Meirionnydd resort is set to lose its prestigious Blue Flag status.

Tywyn Town Council heard at the last meeting that water samples taken by inspectors over the summer were not good enough for the town to keep its Blue Flag status, a benchmark recognised the world over.

The town’s sea water has been rated as ‘excellent’ for several years, a prerequisite for a Blue Flag award, but this has been downgraded to ‘good’, meaning the beach has lost its status for 2019.

Tywyn council chair Nancy Clarke said the summer’s hot weather was partially to blame.

“It is unfortunate we have lost the Blue Flag status along with other resorts,” she told the Cambrian News.

“There are several reasons why this is the case, all of which are beyond the control of the council.

“Natural Resources Wales tests the quality of the water several times during the year and it only needs the water quality to fall below the required level once during the year for the authorities to cease to allow the Blue Flag to be flown for the next year - the Blue Flag for 2019 is totally dependant on 2018 results.

“Due to the hot dry spell, when the rain finally came and the streams and rivers were once more flowing into the sea, the contaminants they contained were more highly concentrated due to the land, streams and rivers not being flushed out on a regular basis due to the lack of rain.”

Read the full story in this week’s Meirionnydd edition of the Cambrian News