A BEACH in Barry, home to one of the town's most famous swimming groups, could be granted special status by Natural Resources Wales.

Watchtower Bay could be placed in NRW's monitoring programme and the water routinely tested each year for 20 weeks from mid-May.

Shared Regulatory Services (SRS) has submitted an application to Welsh Government for the beach, located between Barry Old Harbour and The Knap, to be granted this status.

Working with local swimming group the Watch Tower Waders, SRS has gathered the necessary evidence for the application, which includes documenting the number of people using the beach during the bathing water season from May 15 to September 30.

Watch Tower Waders was set up by Alison Woolcock after she tragically lost her daughter, who was pregnanat at the time, to a epileptic  attack. 

Since Alison set up the waders in lockdown it has grown massively to having thousands of members.

If the application is successful, the beach will be assigned a classification for water quality, from excellent to poor.

A consultation has also launched on the Welsh Government website, asking visitors to the beach what they think about the possibility of it becoming a designated bathing beach.

Six beaches within the Vale, including Dunraven Bay, Col Huw Beach in Llantwit Major, Cold Knap, Whitmore Bay, Jackson’s Bay and Penarth, are already identified as designated bathing waters, while an application has been submitted by St Brides Community Council to add Ogmore-by-sea to the list.

Cllr Ruba Sivagnanam, Vale of Glamorgan Council Cabinet Member for Community Engagement, Equalities and Regulatory Services, said the Vale has many great beaches. 

“We are proud of our beaches in the Vale, particularly their water quality, and want as many people as possible to enjoy them," said Cllr Sivagnanam.

“It is hoped adding Watch House Bay to our list of designated bathing beaches can help attract even more visitors and that, in turn, using it for swimming can boost their health and wellbeing.

“But it is important we canvas the opinions of all interested parties before this proposal progresses and I would encourage anyone with a view on this matter to share those thoughts.”

The consultation looking into Watchtower Bay becoming a designated bathing beach will run for six weeks and closes on March 1. It can be accessed here.