FIVE beaches in North and East Yorkshire could lose their coveted Blue Flag status under changes to European rules.

The body which oversees the scheme has introduced much tougher standards for the accolade two years ahead of schedule, although a group including Yorkshire Water, the Environment Agency, Welcome to Yorkshire and local councils is lobbying Keep Britain Tidy to hold off until 2015.

If the changes were brought in now, Bridlington’s North and South beaches and those at Filey, Hornsea and Withernsea would lose their flags for several years.

A spokeswoman for Welcome to Yorkshire said the situation was very frustrating and bringing the new rules in before 2015 doesn’t make any sense.