MANY of West Dorset's key holiday resorts are missing from the latest Good Beach Guide, published today (Friday)

Bathing water quality at West Bay, Charmouth and parts of Lyme Regis have failed to meet the tough pollution standards set by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS).

But although they refuse to list them as beaches where they say it is "safe to swim" they all still meet the mandatory EC requirements for water safety.

At West Bay the on-going coastal defence works meant that water testing along the main seafront was suspended last year so West Beach was not up for consideration.

East Beach does meet the mandatory EC bathing water standards but just falls short of the MCS' more stringent criteria for inclusion in the guide.

It is a similar story at Charmouth where both the east and west beaches fail to gain a listing, due to the village's discharge of partially-treated sewage into the sea.

And at Lyme Regis Church Cliff Beach again falls short of the top standard. Here the beach has consistently been affected by pollution from the nearby River Lym. To the west, Lyme's Monmouth Beach was not tested.

But the resort's showpiece Cobb Beach is ranked amongst the Westcountry's best in the new guide, as are The Hive at Burton Bradstock, Seatown and Eype's Mouth.

The guide is based on water quality figures produced by the Environment Agency which began a new round of testing this week.

This year, for the first time, over half of Britain's bathing waters are recommended in the publication. The MCS will only recommend beaches in the guide if they meet the highest guideline European water quality standard and are not affected by inadequately treated sewage.

"The Marine Conservation Society is very pleased with the further improvement in bathing water quality this year," said spokeswoman Juliette Camburn. "Particularly encouraging is the decrease in the beaches that failed the EC minimum standard for water quality.

"However there are still areas affected by bacterial pollution from both sewage and diffuse sources and the MCS Good Beach Guide allows the public to make an informed choice about where and whether to bathe."

* Swimmers, surfers and holidaymakers can check the Environment Agency's water test findings on the internet at www.environment-agency.gov.uk on the "your environment" pages.