Southend High Street protest over sewage spills: in pictures

Protesters gathered outside SeaLife Adventure before marching along the seafront, up Pier Hill to the High Street for the Southend Against Sewage demonstration this afternoon.

Recent data from the Environment Agency revealed 400 sewage spills were reported in Southend in 2023, an increase from 120 spills in 2022.

Protesters - one of the campaigners (Image: Gaz de Vere)

Pictures show the protest through the High Street, with Labour councillors Matt Dent and Daniel Cowan as well as Anna Firth, Conservative MP for Southend West in attendance.

The protest comes days after four Southend beaches were awarded the prestigious Blue Flag - recognising excellent water quality and cleanliness - with Thorpe Bay missing out.

Gathered - the rally ended at the top of the High Street (Image: Gaz de Vere)

Thorpe Bay was previously awarded a Blue Flag in 2023 but the water quality is now graded as good rather than excellent following a testing sample showed higher bacteria levels.

To qualify for a Blue Flag, applicants must meet and maintain a series of stringent environmental, educational, and safety criteria.

Speeches - key figures including Labour councillor Matt Dent and Southend West MP Anna Firth spoke at the event (Image: Matt Dent)

An Anglian Water spokesman said: "We've heard loud and clear from customers about their concerns regarding storm overflows, and we've made good progress on spill numbers despite the wettest winter on record.

"We know that we have work to do and our proposed business plan from 2025 includes of £1 billion worth of investment targeted at reducing storm overflows and improving our region's waterways. 

 "Our new map which shows near real time storm spills was launched last month to allow customers to see the latest activity on their local river."

March - one of the banners (Image: Gaz de Vere)

The new map can be found at anglianwater.co.uk/environment/storm-overflows/storm-overflow-map.

This rally coincides with more than 30 protests set to take place at beaches and rivers around the UK, spanning locations from Cornwall to Edinburgh.

Flagship protests were scheduled to take place at West Pier in Brighton and at Gyllyngvase Beach in Falmouth, with Olympian and keen paddle-boarder Dame Kelly Holmes to join protesters on the south coast.