The consumer watchdog for water and sewage, WaterVoice, has warned that a decision by the European Parliament (EP) could have negative effects on coastal tourism in the UK.

The EP's Committee on the Environment has announced it wishes to reform the Bathing Water Directive by deleting a classification for water quality from a set of new standards.

WaterVoice said that if the 'sufficient' class was removed from the current tables, it would result in around one in four of the UK's bathing waters being re-classified as 'poor'.

According to the DEFRA's last available data, collected in 2002, the areas affected by the policy change would include Tynemouth, Scarborough, Bridlington, Skegness, Eastbourne and Brighton.