Water summit to address bathing water concerns

Thorpe Bay beach in Southend lost its Blue Flag accreditation this year after E-coli was found in the water

A summit will hear about the problems residents and swimmers face in local bathing waters.

The Southend Water Summit begins at 09:30 GMT on Friday at the Leigh-on-Sea Sailing Club where the state of south Essex's water will be reviewed.

Southend's two Labour MPs, Bayo Alaba and David Burton-Sampson will be in attendance with Anglian Water expected to provide an update.

Thorpe Bay in the area lost its "excellent" Blue Flag status earlier this year after E-coli was found, but Anglian Water said this was not due to its operations.

Alaba, MP for Southend East & Rochford, and Burton-Sampson, MP for Southend West & Leigh, said they believed clean water was a "basic right".

They added they were "fighting to remove the scourge of sewage from our estuary".

"We need to stop polluting the environment and cannot keep putting our health, our habitat and the happiness of our residents and valuable tourists at risk," they said in a joint statement ahead of the summit.

The summit will also address storm overflow concerns as well as looking at investment plans and flood risks.

The Environment Agency as well as Southend City Council, Leigh Town Council, Surfers against Sewage and other groups will be in attendance.

Three Shells Beach Lagoon opened in 2016 and was touted to become a major seafront attraction

Thorpe Bay was due to retain its Blue Flag status at the start of this year until a final sample was taken.

Beaches are able to reclaim the status through re-testing, however.

The beach was also closed in July when heavy rain led to a temporary no swim order from the Environment Agency.

The agency said it made daily pollution risk forecasts for bathing waters "where water quality may be temporarily reduced due to factors such as heavy rainfall".

Anglian Water added in Southend specifically it had been "undertaking year-round bathing water testing" and was addressing all the "different factors that influence bathing water quality".

As well as this the Three Shells Beach Lagoon on the Southend seafront was branded a "stinking pool of green slime" in July before it was later drained.

Philip Miller, owner of the neighbouring Adventure Island, called it a "total disgrace" at the time which was blamed on algae and decaying seaweed.