A £40 million project to improve the sea water quality of Bridlington's beaches will begin in November.

The project, which is funded by Yorkshire Water, is one of a £110 million group of projects aimed at improving the waters along the Yorkshire coast to be "some of the best in Europe".

The water improvement works also come ahead of stricter Blue Flag criteria set to be launched in 2015 in accordance with a European Union directive.

Some of the country's Blue Flag beaches would not currently meet the more stringent standards, it is thought.

If beaches were judged today according to the stricter requirements, only Scarborough North Bay and Whitby would be allowed to fly their Blue Flags, it was estimated in June.

The region currently boasts five Blue Flag beaches - Bridlington North, Hornsea, Scarborough North, Whitby and Withemsea.

In the last round of compliance testing revealed in May, there were seven Blue Flag beaches in the region, but Bridlington South and Filey have since been ordered to take down their flags.

In August after Filey's five-mile stretch of beach failed water quality testing repeatedly, officials were ordered to take the Blue Flag down.

Then on August 20, Bridlington South beach also lost its Blue Flag status. This downgrade was only revealed on Thursday by the East Riding Council when the Yorkshire Post made an inquiry.

Copyright Press Association 2012