A survey of a Southend beach turned up a disturbing amount of untreated sewage and disposable toiletries, it was has been claimed.

The search was carried out on a quarter mile section between the town's marine activity centre and the old jetty on Saturday as part of a nationwide beach clean-up campaign spearheaded by the Marine Conservation Society.

Yesterday (Monday) the man who says he made the gruesome finds called for laws which govern sewage disposal at sea to be tightened up.

Alan Shersby, who teaches canoeing at the town's seafront marine activity centre, said tides were bringing too much sewage back to shore despite the fact that sewage outflow pipes had been extended out to sea.

He claimed he found 94 cotton buds and other items during the search and said: "It is an awful lot of waste to find in such a short section of beach.

"It shows a worrying trend and we should be questioning how sewage is treated when it is pumped out to sea."

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said beaches were monitored against set European directives and only two beaches in the whole of East Anglia had failed the test in the past 12 months.

Volunteers have carried out the survey for the past seven years as part of a nationwide campaign by the society.

The aim is to draw to the attention of the public, growing concerns about the treatment of sewage and the effect it is having on the sea and coastal areas.

Mr Shersby, a property surveyor who lives in London, carried out a similar survey in Southend two years ago and said the problems seemed to be getting worse.

He said: "People don't realise that when they tip rubbish down the drains it remains untreated and ends up in the sea.

"As often as not the tide washes it back on to the beach and that is neither pleasant nor healthy for the public."

The agency spokesman said: "All beaches are routinely tested and monitored. The only two beaches to fail the test in the past 12 months were in Clacton and Cleethorpes, Linc-olnshire.

"It is difficult to comment on a random independent survey but if we were to see it we would be able to study it."

By James Taylor

Reporter's e-mail: james.taylor@notes.newsquest.co.uk

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