A senior councillor has rejected calls for signs on beaches across Southend warning about the possibility of increased water pollution in the sea after heavy rainfall.

The Marine Conservation Society said permanent signs should be put up, advising swimmers coastal waters could be temporarily affected by pollution after heavy rain.

But Southend Council's executive councillor for environmental and public protection, Ann Holland, said: "There is not actually a need for such signs because our engineers know whether there has been a sewage overflow.

"In these situations our policy has always been to close off the beaches until the sea is clean enough not to endanger swimmers."

A society spokesman said: "We recognise that discharges from combined sewer overflow and storm water outfalls are necessary to avoid sewage flooding people's homes.

"However, bathers are put at risk because beaches with normally excellent water quality can be temporarily affected by sewage discharges."

However, experts have claimed the sewage would be sufficiently dispersed not to be a danger to swimmers by the time it reached Southend.

Published Monday August 23, 2004

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