Could failure to plug raw sewage turn Scottish beauty spot into no-go area?

Published: 19:18, 25 July 2026 | Updated: 19:18, 25 July 2026 One of Scotland’s most picturesque tourist towns risks becoming a ‘no-go area’ because Scottish Water is failing to stop raw sewage spilling onto its seafront. Environment watchdogs fear the pretty harbour and bustling sands of Kinghorn, Fife, pose a health hazard and are set to strip them of their ‘safe beach’ status. Last month, officials found eight times the threshold of E.coli bacteria in the bay, triggering a ‘poor quality’ alert. Worried locals are now pondering the damage to the town’s economy if day-trippers and wild swimmers are warned to stay out of the water. For a decade, effluent has been leaking into Lady Burn – which flows under the town into the seafront. However, Scottish Water has failed to locate the source, suspected to be domestic properties with faulty pipes. But when the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) ordered the state-owned utility to clean up its act or face prosecution, ministers quashed the enforcement notice on a technicality. Sepa officials told a public meeting in the town yesterday that they are now ready to cancel the beach’s bathing water status. The beautiful beach at the village of Kinghorn, in Fife, where water in the bay has been reported to contain high levels of bacteria Kinghorn’s former provost Alan McIlravie said: ‘We don’t understand why Scottish Water is not getting it fixed. ‘If the sands are turned into no-go areas, the town’s future is at risk. It feels like the Scottish Government is simply ignoring us. ‘There are efforts being made to keep Portobello beach clean in Edinburgh but we’re just a small town in Fife…’  Local MP Melanie Ward said: ‘We urgently need a commitment from the Scottish Government and Scottish Water that they will take radical action to ensure Kinghorn remains a safe bathing beach. Anything less would be an enormous let down to the community.’ Popular coastal swimming spots have been officially designated ‘bathing waters’ since 2008, with responsibility falling on Sepa to monitor their cleanliness. But it is obliged by law to step in and remove the status where the quality has been ranked ‘poor’ five years on the trot. With four consecutive gradings, Kinghorn is now teetering on the edge of an indefinite ban. Sepa issued Scottish Water with an enforcement notice in 2024, telling it to find the source of the pollution and then fix whatever problems it discovered. But the company appealed to the Scottish Government, which ruled that it could ignore the notice because it wasn’t precise enough. Locals in Kinghorn are used to warnings to avoid swimming within 48 hours of rainfall because the sewers cannot cope. But earlier this month, Sepa issued a public notice for people to stay away from Lady Burn and to seek medical attention if they became unwell after coming into contact with the water. Melanie Ward, MP for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy, who has expressed concern over the safety of the beach A Sepa spokesman said: ‘We have committed to increasing the frequency of sampling at the burn. In relation to any future enforcement action, options remain open.’ In 2022, Scottish Water unveiled a five-year programme to target ‘high-priority’ sewage overflows. But last year 78 per cent of the upgrades remained undone. Scottish Water bills rose 8.7 per cent last April, with chief executive Alex Plant – who was handed a pay package of £523,000 last year – saying the hike was necessary ‘to make sure we are investing to protect essential services’. A Scottish Water spokesman said: ‘Kinghorn Harbour remains a complex and challenging bathing water location because the watercourses and drainage networks run largely underground. ‘We have undertaken extensive investigations and we are identifying next steps.’