SHEERNESS is celebrating the regaining of the Blue Flag for the cleanliness and amenities of its beach - in time for the summer holidays. Cllr Brenda Hammond, the Mayor of Swale, who attended the flag-raising ceremony on Friday with her husband Keith, said: "I think it's wonderful. It's a real bonus to attract tourists to the area. I think it's the only one of two awarded in Kent this year. The other is at at Minnis Bay."

The Blue Flag, awarded by the Environment Campaign (ENCAMS), an environmental charity which runs the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, is only given to resorts which have clean water and sands, with top notch facilities. The strand off Beach Street, Sheerness, was last awarded the Blue Flag in 1999 - but lost it last year.

The Blue Flag began in 1987 and beaches sporting the flag must be clean enough to have achieved the highest standard defined under European law. The standard measures everything from accessibility for disabled people to the number of litters provided and the amount of beach litter.