Step 2

How to gather a campaign team

You don’t have to do this alone! Building a team around you will help to collect all the evidence and information you need as well as reach a wider network to support your application. Connect with your local community and find out who else is passionate about making a change. There may be people out there who are also thinking of applying for designation.

Connect with the water community

Link up with groups, clubs and individuals with interests who use the bathing site and surrounding area. Are there any of the below groups or individuals in your area who you can contact to create your community group? You could use social media, email, attend their club or have a chat to whilst they are using the waterway:

Swimmers
Anglers
Paddle boarders
Rowers
Kayakers
Wildlife and environmental conservationists

Canoeists
Sports clubs and groups
Walkers
Dog walkers
Neighbourhood groups and “Friends of” local parks or green/blue spaces

Aim to have a representative from each type of water user who uses your waterway on your campaign group. If a specific of water user group aren’t on board in designating the swim site, then having a representative within your group will help in expressing why they have their reservations and how you can work together to ease their concerns.

Roles in your community group

Once you have a group of likeminded people on board, assign roles to your group to help share the work. The process involves lots of different parts and the application process will be a lot easier if it is shared. Think about your group’s individual skills, experience and interests and how they can fit with supporting each area of the application process and campaign. Is there someone who could take a lead in the areas listed below?

Liaising with the landowner and local authority

Are there members of your group that feel confident discussing the bathing water application with the landowner and local authority? Do members of your community already have a link to the landowner or local authority? Some agencies require the support of both the landowner of the bathing site and the local authority. This is detailed in step 3.

Getting your MP and councillor on board

Who in your group is best suited to rally local government support to give bathing water designation the spotlight it deserves? Check out They Work for You where you can search for keywords such as “sewage” in the MP’s speeches to check if sewage pollution is on their radar. Use UK Parliament to find out who your local MP is. This is detailed in step 3.

Social media

Tasks include creating an account for your campaign on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram, posting information about why you are applying for bathing water designation and posting regular updates before, during and after the application process. This is detailed in step 4.

Co-ordinating the water user survey

Volunteers will need to be co-ordinated to survey water users. The survey process and all templates are explained in step 5.

Water quality testing

If you plan on testing the water quality at your waterway then volunteers, training and equipment will need to be coordinated.

Gathering info & mapping facilities

Is there a member of your group who is very familiar with the area who can audit the facilities and plot them on a map? This is detailed in step 6.

Managing the consultation

Who is best suited to review which type of consultation method best suits your community and also take a lead in. This is detailed in step 7.

Compiling the application

A few members of your group will be needed for this. Having people who have IT skills will be useful for this task. This is detailed in step 8.

A quick favour before you move on…

SAS are building a map of bathing sites across the UK and hoping to share which of those have community campaigns going on behind the scenes. If you are keen to start a campaign, we’d love to hear from you and get your site added to the map. And if we hear from anyone who wants to support your community campaign, we will get in touch to ask if you’d like their details.