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Teams clearing debris from North Sea collision praised
National World
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20/03/2025
Teams involved in the clean-up operation along the Lincolnshire coast following the North Sea collision have been praised for their efforts to remove any pollution. We spoke to LCC Coun Colin Davie.
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00:00
Teams involved in the clean-up operation along the Lincolnshire coast following the North Sea collision
00:06
have been praised for their efforts to remove any pollution.
00:10
We spoke to Lincolnshire County Council's Colin Davey.
00:14
Obviously the incident could have been much, much worse than it has happened to be.
00:22
We could have had the sinking of the vessels, we could have had a complete environmental catastrophe on the coast.
00:30
Obviously you are aware we have some plastics washing ashore.
00:34
Those have obviously been dealt with by the Resilience Forum and the various partners who will clean the beach up.
00:42
I think that spill of plastics will last for a few days before they actually get it all resolved.
00:50
But I am very certain that they will make sure that our beaches are beautiful and pristine
00:56
before we start the summer season properly with Easter in the middle of April.
01:01
I say this has been a very near miss for the Lincolnshire coast.
01:07
We have been very fortunate that the environmental impact has been relatively small compared to what could have happened.
01:16
I pay tribute to all those in the emergency services and the Resilience Forum
01:21
who are making sure that our beaches, not just for visitors but also for our environment,
01:28
for the things that live in the sea, are as clean and repaired as quickly as possible.
01:34
As I say, a very near miss.
01:38
This could have been an environmental catastrophe on a scale that the UK has not seen probably for 50 or 60 years.
01:46
So we are very fortunate and we have got great people working to clear it up and we should celebrate that.
01:52
So what is your understanding of the operation that is taking place at the moment?
01:59
Well obviously we have got onshore drift in terms of materials coming off the cargo boat.
02:08
A lot of it is sweeping down the coastline down into Norfolk, into the wash.
02:13
So this is a big environmental area. There is a lot of cleaning up to be done.
02:17
Removing plastics is a very time-consuming job, particularly as these are nodules or very small pieces of plastic.
02:26
So this is going to have to be done very carefully.
02:29
But you can track the drift so you know exactly where the materials will be deposited along the coastline.
02:37
So you can deploy accurately workforce to clean those up between the first point and the last point.
02:44
So that is what is going on at the moment.
02:46
I think it is not going to be done in a day. I mean we all have to accept that.
02:51
But I think in the next 10 days or so a lot of that material will be removed and hopefully we will have the beaches back to good order.
02:59
And it is not like the whole coastline, it is very patchy.
03:04
There are some areas which have had quite a lot of this stuff come onshore, some areas very little.
03:09
But making sure it is all cleared up is absolutely the priority.
03:14
I think some people have been concerned that while this clear up operation is going on,
03:21
the actual public beach clean on the 30th which the Gibraltar Point has been promoting has been cancelled.
03:30
There must be some threat to human beings from this pollution. For them to do that I would have thought.
03:40
Not necessarily Chrissie. Sometimes when you have got professional teams doing work with things that might have a mixture of toxic,
03:49
there might be oil mixed in with the plastics etc. That should not be handled by volunteers.
03:55
That needs to be cleaned up properly. Because we do not want any trace of it left.
03:59
Because of its impact on the environment.
04:02
I suspect it is more because they did not want volunteers mixing with the professional team at that time.
04:08
They just wanted to make sure everything was done.
04:11
There is plenty of rubbish people leave on the beach to be cleared up every day of the year.
04:18
And we need those volunteers who are doing an amazing job.
04:22
I had a meeting at Gibraltar Point just recently and heard about the fantastic number of volunteers
04:29
who have come to do these beach things.
04:31
And they do not just come locally, they come from all over England just to help and support the beach.
04:37
So I think that is really positive.
04:39
But I suspect they just do not want the volunteer force mixing with a professional team that is there to do a job.
04:49
Which is remove everything, clean it up properly and make sure there is no trace of what happened left.
04:57
It is not like picking bottles or cans off the beach or rubbish that people have left behind.
05:02
This is environmental stuff that needs to be done properly.
05:05
Now Skegness is enjoying some really good weather at the moment.
05:12
And businesses must be concerned that people might deter coming while this operation is going on.
05:21
What would you say to people?
05:23
Well, we have got beautiful weather and we have got beautiful beaches.
05:27
And most of those beaches when they come will be absolutely spotless.
05:31
Because if they are coming this weekend, there are beaches that are not impacted.
05:36
You can find out easily from the Skegness standard where those beaches are.
05:40
So come and enjoy the sunshine. It is beautiful weather.
05:46
And let's hope we have a good season this year.
05:50
A lot of businesses are really worried about the 2025 season.
05:54
They are concerned about how the budget changes that will come into effect in April are going to hurt their businesses.
06:03
I am hearing a lot of people talking about cutting workforce, reducing the number of people they employ.
06:10
Not opening every day of the week to save money.
06:15
Everyone is very concerned about energy costs and how that is impacting on them.
06:20
Whether they are just a pensioner living in a small bungalow or a business which employs 100 people.
06:26
Everyone has real concerns that energy costs are crippling everything and taking out of life every single enjoyment.
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