One angry resident suggested a mass demonstration on the beach in protest over the pollution of the sea.

Another vowed not to pay his water bills.

They were among 130 locals who crowded into a public meeting for the launch of a new campaign group set up after Deal Castle Beach was classed as having “poor” water quality.

This is the lowest possible rating and means people are advised not to swim there due to high levels of E. coli and intestinal enterococci, which are known to be a risk to bathers’ health.

It is one of three beaches in Kent - along with Dymchurch and Littlestone on Romney Marsh - to hold the unwanted status.

Folkestone’s water quality has also dipped to “sufficient” - just one above poor.

On Friday evening, in a sign of mounting anger building along the coast, locals braved near-freezing weather to attend the inaugural meeting of the Save Our Seas (SOS) Deal and Walmer group at Walmer Parish Hall.

It also saw the launch of an online protest petition, which has gathered 855 names.

One of the leading SOS members, Sarah Waite-Gleave, was impressed by the turnout, considering the time of year.

She said it showed the strength of feeling over diminishing water quality along stretches of the Kent coast.

“Our petition demands a reverse of this deterioration,” she told the meeting.

“This is a hot topic nationally as well as in our local area.”

Speaking to KentOnline afterwards, she said SOS wants “all the people with power” to work together to stop sewage pollution along the coast.

Ms Waite-Gleave said that includes Southern Water, the Environment Agency (EA), Dover District Council (DDC), Kent County Council, and environment secretary Steve Reed.

The campaign was sparked by the EA’s “devastating” classification of the beach on November 26.

Sam Brookfield, Deal town councillor and SOS member, told the meeting: “We were as shocked as anyone to find out about the water quality at Deal.”

Mike Eddy, a town councillor and another leading member of SOS, told KentOnline: “We want to get public support for a campaign to sort out where this pollution is coming from.

“It is having a bad impact on our tourism business and there are a lot of people here who like to swim all year round, want to enjoy the coast and they don't feel that they can.”

Jonathan Groves, a member of Deal and Walmer Chamber of Trade, told KentOnline he is concerned about the impact the quality of the seawater will have on Deal’s community, businesses and residents’ health.

“I would like to see increased monitoring of the seawater quality in more places so that we can get a proper picture of exactly what is happening,” he said.

In 2019, Deal beach was rated "excellent”, went down to “good” in 2021, and further dropped to “sufficient”’ in 2023.

The petition also demands more seawater testing in more sites between Deal and Kingsdown, as well as the upgrading of equipment such as pipes and tanks to end storm overflow releases.

It also calls for local planning authorities to be told how proposed developments will impact capacity and if they will be connected to existing wastewater infrastructure before applications can be approved.

Deal’s rating will remain in place until at least November 2025 when a new classification will be released following tests between May and September.

But there is some hope the rating will improve sooner rather than later.

A DDC overview and scrutiny committee last month heard that Deal beach's low-quality status had come from one sample taken on August 23. There was a spike in pollution but it has now returned to normal levels.

Lindsay Faulkner, area environment manager for the Environment Agency, said: “Something happened that caused that spike, a short-term high impact incident, but it has gone back to normal.”

She said if tests continued to produce normal results the bathing water could go back to “sufficient “ status by next winter.

Nick Mills, director of environment and innovation for Southern Water, told the committee the cause of the spike was being investigated but still not known.

The impact of the “poor” classification has already been felt in Deal, with the hugely popular Boxing Day dip cancelled.

Deal mayor Cllr Oliver Richardson previously told KentOnline his concerns go beyond the festive period as “our lives are intertwined with the sea”.

“It is nothing short of devastating… it is what connects us and it forms part of who we are as a community in Deal,” he said.

“Our beaches are enjoyed by all of us and welcome the great number of tourists that support our local economy.

“We also have a long-established fishing trade and many take to the pier to fish throughout the year.

“The full impact on our lives and marine life is yet to be determined.”

The “poor” rating comes seven years after Southern Water announced Deal would see a £3.9 million investment to improve water quality in the area.

The company previously said it had spent the money on repairing sewers and refurbishing pumping stations in 2017.

It said bathing water quality “is very rarely impacted by a single issue”.

A spokesperson added: “During the summer, the Environment Agency advised it had increased testing at Deal Castle, but has yet to link any issue with water quality there back to Southern Water.

“We’ve been working with the council and the EA to investigate potential sources.

“We found a number of illegal connections in the area where waste pipes from homes were wrongly plumbed into surface water only drains.

“One possibility is holiday homes with poor plumbing and this will be a focus of investigations.

“High samples appear to correlate with holiday periods when many holiday homes in the area are in use.”

An EA spokesman previously said “specialist officers” from the authority are working with Southern Water and DDC.

He added: “While overall bathing water quality has improved in recent decades due to targeted investment and robust regulation, the poor results for Deal show there is much work still to do.”