RESIDENTS of Bournemouth and Poole can celebrate the fact that local beaches have again been awarded Blue Flag status.

Achieving this is probably not as easy as it sounds.

There is always plenty in the news about the amount of rubbish people dump on our highways, in our streets and, yes, on our beaches.

We take a clean, safe and tidy coastline for granted but it doesn’t happen by magic. So here’s a big vote of thanks to all those council workers and the army of volunteers who actually do make it happen. You do a great job. Thank you.