Swimming spot bid prompts safety concerns

A river in North Yorkshire could soon become a designated swimming area, but some people fear the site is too dangerous for people to take a dip.

The River Swale at Richmond Falls is one of 13 new bathing sites proposed by the government.

"We are very, very pleased to have got this far. There aren't that many river sites that get this status," said Hilary Plews, secretary of campaign group Save Our Swale, which applied for the designation.

But the proposal has also sparked concern from locals over safety, after a 12-year-old boy drowned in the river last summer.

If designation is granted, it will apply to a 50m (164ft) stretch of the river above the falls, in front of a pebble beach.

Plews said the group had chosen this spot because it was "quieter", but she urged anyone who planned to go into the river to be aware of how dangerous open water could be.

Nathan Murphy, who started a petition last year to make Richmond Falls safer, said granting the river bathing status was a "ridiculous idea".

"The safety of people comes first, and this is not the safest of things, really," he said.

"There are massive undercurrents in the river itself, and the second you jump off the falls you're caught in that whirlwind of water that has a nasty habit of trapping people and dragging them."

Murphy called on the government to fund a volunteer river warden safety team that would provide training and equipment before allowing the site to get bathing status.

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs said a consultation around the bathing site was open for contributions.

Getting designated bathing status means the Environment Agency has to monitor the bacteria levels and publish their findings during the bathing season, which runs from May to September.

Stricter environmental standards apply during this time, which affect the requirements on permits to discharge sewage into the bathing water.

Plews said: "This is a beautiful area, and we want to keep it that way.

"The Environment Agency will be testing 5km of the river, and that's taking in three combined sewage overflows, which until now have just discharged whenever they felt like it, particularly in bad weather.

"And that has to stop."

Miles Cameron, bathing water partnerships manager at Yorkshire Water, said the firm had already reduced the number of discharges into the Swale.

He said this formed part of a wider £1.5bn investment programme, of which £378m would be spent in North Yorkshire.

"We care deeply about river water quality and have been working hard to improve the health of the Swale for a number of years," he added.

Lindsey Froggitt, who lives nearby, said parts of the river were particularly dangerous and she had often seen children jump off the falls.

"There are other rivers that they can swim in that are safe, but they just aren't clean," she said.

Chantal Rodriguez, from Catterick, was not worried about accidents and said she had been bringing her daughter to Richmond Falls since she was a baby.

She said: "Around this area, there is not much else to do apart from the big cities, which are over an hour away.

"There are so many people here over the summer and between parents you kind of watch each other's kids.

"Accidents are going to happen, and they are going to keep happening no matter where and no matter what you do.

"It's like cars and planes. It just happens."

Claire Arnott is the manager at Wilfred Deli & Pantry in Richmond and is hopeful the River Swale would boost tourism if it achieved bathing status.

"Every time we look out the window at the moment, it's so dull, so any sort of sunshine people can get, they're off to foreign climes.

"If the Swale becomes a designated swimming spot, then hopefully it's going to bring in many more people.

"We can all benefit from that, definitely."

Bathing water status does not guarantee the water is clean.

A stretch of the River Nidd, known as the Knaresborough Lido, received bathing status in 2024, but according to David Clayden, chair of Nidd Action Group, the water quality has not improved.

He said there was an "initial euphoria" when the bathing status was first granted, but the most recent results from water quality assessments in the Nidd had rated it "poor".

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