THE district's beaches have again failed to make the grade, according to a critical new report.

The Marine Conservation Society has passed only two beaches in the North West this year and none are in the Morecambe Bay area.

Although there has been a decrease in the amount of sewage pollution recorded in the area none of the beaches reached the required standards.

A record number of beaches around the country have been recommended and, for the first time ever, the North West will feature in the Good Beach Guide, but only because of two beaches in Cumbria. A spokesman for the Marine Conservation Society said: "Raw and inadequately treated sewage is still being discharged into coastal waters.

Present water quality standards do not ensure that the water is free of sewage pollution.

Extensive work has been completed on many sewage discharges and with 11 beaches failing the minimum standard compared to 13 last year, the seaside is becoming cleaner."

The water was tested by authorities such as the Environment Agency but there are concerns that even beaches which are declared safe remain a danger.

In February an eight-year-old girl died of E-coli poisoning after playing on a Devon beach which had met European standards.

And the EU started legal proceedings in October last year claiming that one in 10 beaches in Britain had unacceptably high levels of bacteria.

Locally, moves are under way to introduce more sand on Morecambe beach in a bid to attract more tourists to use the beach as a facility.