A stretch of beach is closed due to continuing sewage issues being dealt with by Anglian Water being made worse by heavy rainfall and high tides overnight.
The beach is closed from Southend Pier to Thorpe Hall Avenue, with tape across beach access steps and signs up advising against the use of the beach. This is in addition to signs that went up earlier this week advising people not to swim in the water due to the issues being experienced by Anglian Water.
Veolia were on site as part of a clean-up operation and Marine Parade will remain open, although Hartington Road will stay closed while Anglian Water continue their work.
Cllr Carole Mulroney, cabinet member for environment, culture, tourism and planning, said: “We are working closely with partner agencies to make sure we are doing all we can to keep the public safe, whilst Anglian Water fix the problem.
“Closing the beach is unfortunate but a necessary step we, as the local authority need to take. The last thing we want is for someone to become affected by potentially contaminated materials that might be on the beach.
“Whilst we have had clean-up crews out to take care of any debris, I would urge people to heed warnings and not use the beach, until we can be certain it is safe to do so.”
Anglian Water have told us that a blockage deep in their network needs to be cleared which could take several days to repair. Until the engineering work is complete, temporary solutions are in place by Anglian Water.
Relevant council departments are meeting twice daily with Anglian Water as efforts are made to manage the consequences of what has happened.
Currently Saturday’s fireworks display is expected to still go ahead.