Echo Comment on the sewage spill that’s closed the Teesside sea

Our beautiful beaches, long golden miles of sands from Seaton Carew down to Saltburn, fringed by dunes, beneath an azure blue sky, pods of dolphins in the sea, proms and the odd pier to walk on and the dramatic full stop of Huntcliff to stare at.

But today, the sea is closed, from Seaton Carew down to Saltburn, due to a sewage spill in Middlesbrough. The spill was first noticed at 6.08pm on Monday and the swimming ban is likely to last until Thursday – it is not a short-lived, minor incident.

This, for a region that has all the attributes to be a tourist hotspot, is not a good look. This, for a country that takes pride in its environment, is not what anyone wants to see.

We shouldn’t jump to conclusions about the cause, about whether it shows the stress our aging infrastructure is under, about whether it shows how as we build more houses we are not investing in necessary pipes, about whether a privatised company has the right priorities for the wider public god.

Suffice to say that the water industry is in the dock at the moment and if Andy Burnham can find a way to bring it under greater control without it costing the country a fortune, it would be a popular move.

We should say, though, that this is not acceptable. Pollution should not shut the east coast for days, and it should not take so many hours for local people to be told of the problems in their midst.

As soon as the situation is resolved, we need full and fast explanations of how it happened.