On May 13th 2024, the UK government announced proposals to designate 27 new wild swimming sites across England, in what is the largest ever expansion of wild swimming areas.
Most of these sites are located across rivers, which will require frequent pollution testing to ensure they’re clean and safe enough to swim in. The Environment Agency (DEFRA) will first need to test them this summer to ensure the water is fit for swimming regardless. As temperatures rise and we head into summer, there is a huge uptick in people looking for new wild swimming locations near where they live, be it in the form of coast, rivers, or lakes.
Water cleanliness and quality has been a major issue in the UK when it comes to wild swimming, and we see almost daily reports of sewage being pumped into our rivers and seas by water companies, among other issues around safety and suitability of our waters in general. Indeed, even as we do our best to promote and evangelise as many wild swimming locations across the UK (and beyond), we are very conscious of the well-documented recurring issues with regards to water quality up and down the country.
With the announcement of these new designated wild swimming sites, we hope this encourages a trend from the government to ensure that ongoing testing is rolled out beyond these designated swimming sites. Though a lot of UK rivers fall way below par in terms of their pollution status, these new sites are a good step in the right direction in the consciousness of keeping our waterways fit for wild swimming in general.
We’ve detailed the list of the new 27 wild swimming sites below, as well as a visual map depicting their locations across the country. As soon as we learn more about their progress as being officially declared designated, watch this space as we explore them and detail them in our locations section.
England’s 27 New Wild Swimming Sites
- Church Cliff Beach, Dorset
- Coastguards Beach, River Erme, Devon
- Coniston Boating Centre, Coniston Water, Cumbria
- Coniston Brown Howe, Coniston Water, Cumbria
- Derwent Water at Crow Park, Cumbria
- Goring Beach, West Sussex
- Littlehaven Beach, Tyne and Wear
- Manningtree Beach, Essex
- Monk Coniston, Coniston Water, Cumbria
- River Avon at Fordingbridge, Hampshire
- River Cam at Sheep’s Green, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
- River Dart Estuary at Dittisham, Devon
- River Dart Estuary at Steamer Quay, Totnes, Devon
- River Dart Estuary at Stoke Gabriel, Devon
- River Dart Estuary at Warfleet, Devon
- River Frome at Farleigh Hungerford, Somerset
- River Nidd at Knaresborough, North Yorkshire
- River Ribble at Edisford Bridge, Lancashire
- River Severn at Ironbridge, Shropshire
- River Severn at Shrewsbury, Shropshire
- River Stour at Friars Meadow, Sudbury, Suffolk
- River Teme at Ludlow, Shropshire
- River Tone at French Weir Park, Somerset
- River Wharfe at Wetherby, West Yorkshire
- Rottingdean Beach, East Sussex
- Wallingford Beach, River Thames, Oxfordshire
- Worthing Beach House, West Sussex
