Surf event was cancelled due to sewage fears

South West Water said an alert was removed on Saturday morning

A charity Santa surf in Cornwall was cancelled at the weekend due to a sewage discharge, organisers have said.

The event, which was organised by the Wave Project, was due to take place at Fistral beach in Newquay on Saturday but it was called off following an overflow discharge the day before.

The charity said participants were unable to enter the water for at least 24 hours after each overflow because of insurance reasons.

South West Water (SWW) said a spill of less than an hour happened on the beach on Friday due to heavy rain.

'Deeply disheartening'

The event was part of the charity's involvement in the Big Give Christmas Challenge, a campaign that sees a doubling of all donations made.

Organisers said 35 surfers and 25 volunteers were set to participate.

Ramon Van de Velde, chief executive officer of the Wave Project, said the decision was "not taken lightly".

"An ocean full of sewage is not a safe space," he said.

"It compromises the health, wellbeing and trust that underpin everything we do.

"It's deeply disheartening, and confusing, when we must tell our surfers that the same environment we champion as life-enhancing is, in moments like these, unsafe and harmful."

The charity said "insurance restrictions" meant surfers who were taking part could not enter the water for 24 hours after a spill.

Alert issued

SWW said there were no storm overflow spills at Fistral on Saturday, but an an alert lasting 12 hours and 30 minutes was issued after the spill on Friday.

"The alert was removed in the early hours of Saturday morning following a full tidal cycle," it said.

The water company said historic data showed the region's bathing waters were typically fully tidal.

"This means that after 12.5 hours, bathing water quality will no longer be impacted by our storm overflows," it said.