Classification
12.—(1) At the end of every bathing season, on the basis of the assessment made under regulation 11 the Department shall classify every bathing water as “poor”, “sufficient”, “good” or “excellent” in accordance with Schedule 4.
(2) The Department shall issue permanent advice against bathing at a bathing water (which advice shall also be directly communicated to the bathing water operator) if—
(a)the bathing water is classified as “poor” for five consecutive years; or
(b)after consultation with such other persons as it thinks fit it considers that the achievement of a “sufficient” quality classification at that bathing water would be infeasible or disproportionately expensive.