New Romney businesses worried about the impact of do not swim warnings

Businesses from New Romney are worried about the impact of do not swim warnings at their beaches.

15 months ago a warning came in place St Mary’s Bay, with the same advice issued at Littlestones in January.

It's because of poor water quality with the sea, at both location, found to contain high levels of a bacterium, indicating the presence of human faeces.

It will remain in place throughout the year and now the Environment Agency has admitted it can't say when it will lift the advisories.

It has owners worried that they may loose business with people choosing to stay away from the seaside town.

Paul Salt, is manager at New Romney Caravan park, he said: "How long is a piece of string, you just don't know how long it's going to last.

"A lot of businesses will affected because they last entirely on tourism and words just don't help people, words won't help their businesses, saying 'we'll just sort this out'

"What does that mean? How can they sort it out? You're not going to just drop a load of washing up tablets in the sea are you.

Between May and September, the EA monitors water quality by taking samples at designated sites.

Bacterium intestinal enterococci, which is found in human poo and can cause diarrhoea and sickness, have been found in the tests.

Southern Water has been blamed but the firm says the issue is not associated with its storm overflows.

The EA says there is “no single cause” and that it has identified a number of sources such as dog and bird faeces and people misconnecting toilets and showers.