THE ‘My Beach, Your Beach’ campaign returns to Ayr this summer for the second time, raising awareness of pollution on the seafront.

It comes after worries of Ayr beach closing due to warnings of its water quality.

Ayr beach was announced as part of the drive during last week’s celebration of World Ocean Day on June 8. It aims to drive home the issue of pollution and its impacts on water quality - from dog fouling and litter, to feeding gulls.

The campaign, Making a Splash at Ayr Beach, ran throughout the summer at three beaches last year.

This year it will bring a range of innovative initiatives to the beach to help drive behaviour change. These will include community clean up events, bright signage and wrapped bins along the shorefront, and new for this year – litter picking stations, citizen science surveys and more ‘doggie ambassador’ competitions.

Concillor Siobhian Brown, Environmental Volunteers Ayrshire, said: “I think the My Beach, Your Beach campaign has been a success in Ayr. I think the local community are very aware of environmental issues, hence a huge big turn out on the day of the Big Beach Clean. We look forward to working together to see how we can further improve our beach.”

Last year the initiative was a soaring success, recording a reduction in litter between 12 and 15 per cent at all three beaches, Portobello, Ayr and Fisherrow, as well as bolstering engagement with an 82 per cent public awareness of the campaign and its key messages. Now, the community in Kinghorn will be encouraged to get involved, making a difference to the beach that is already so well loved.

The interventions run alongside a range of efforts by the Scottish Government, SEPA and Scottish Water to improve bathing waters across Scotland.

Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said: “I am pleased to see the return of the My Beach, Your Beach campaign again this summer, which has made a valuable contribution to increasing public awareness on the impact litter of all kinds can have on our beaches.

“The Scottish Government is committed to protecting Scotland’s natural environment and the health and wellbeing of our communities. Campaigns like this one will help us to develop long term solutions to the challenges facing Scotland’s coastlines - keeping our beaches clean for everyone to enjoy, particularly as we approach the Year of Coast and Waters in 2020.”