The Blue Flag programme is a worldwide initiative run by independent non-profit group the Foundation for Environmental Education.

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The scheme is similar to the Green and Blue Flag projects for parks, green spaces and beaches.

BBC: Torquay at night

Vivienne Westwood did it last year and used a Union Jack motif so the red, white and blue is like a section taken through the middle of the flag.

BBC: Sir Peter Blake on his Brit design

It is the tenth successive year that the council has been awarded a Blue Flag for the west strand in Portrush and the sixth time that the town's east strand has received the accolade.

BBC: NI beaches 'quality' flagged