ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners who spent the day quizzing beach users in Blackpool discovered fears about dirty water put most off taking a dip.

Surfers Against Sewage stopped off in the resort as part of a tour of Britain's busiest tourist beaches last month.

The information is being passed on to the European Commission to back up calls for a revision of key bathing water legislation.

James Hendy from SAS said: "The general feeling on the beach at Blackpool was that litter was a problem. "Ninety-five per cent of people we spoke to would like to see more information displayed at the beach on water quality as they did not consider it clean enough to swim in."

Other findings were that the public would like to see information posted at beaches telling them where the sources of pollution are and their relative importance, and more real time information so that they can make an informed choice as to when and where its safe to go in the water.

The use of flags on beaches to be used as and when pollution incidents occur was also something the people they spoke to thought was a good idea.

James added: "The information we gathered in this survey backs up our calls for a new revised Bathing Water Directive that does not so much rely on just a pass or failure of a standard but incorporates a much more beach-managed approach."

Tourism bosses in Blackpool expressed surprise that the seven miles of beach were perceived to have problems and planned to request a copy of the findings.

Head of tourism Jane Seddon said: "We always welcome the attention Blackpool receives with regard to the quality of its sea water. We can show that, although there was a problem, the quality has improved over the last five years.

"Therefore we're very surprised at this group's claim that the sea is too dirty to swim in. Four out of five of the main beaches are meeting EU guidelines for water quality.

"Results of water quality testing are posted at various locations along the Prom, the most visible one being at North Pier. I will ensure that these results are displayed in the window of the Promenade tourist information centre. We our proud of our beaches and the fact that equipment goes on to ensure that the sand is level every day, it is raked and hand picked."