A popular idyllic beach has been plagued by pollution in its otherwise crystal clear waters with some swimmers reporting "human and dog poo" floating past them.
Morecambe Bay is well known for its long stretches of sand and stunning sunsets and has even been a backdrop in some ITV dramas. However, some swimmers said otherwise this week after reporting they had to 'keep their mouth' shut while in the water.
Last week, the town was one of 40 in England and Wales which was subject to pollution warnings after heavy rain caused sewage systems to overflow. Following this, some swimmers and visitors reported that their visit to the beach was 'disturbingly poopy', Lancashire Live reports.
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It comes after Labour accused the government of having its "head in the sand" over the dire state of many of Britain's beaches. However, number 10 said it was the duty of firms to put customers before shareholders when it comes to this country's beautiful beaches.
While Morecambe beach has been described as one of the 'worst hit' areas for raw sewage, some have disputed this claim. David Morris, Conservative MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, claimed there was no sewage being dumbed in the beach.
He also accused the Liberal Democrats of "running a disinformation campaign saying that sewerage has been dumped into water 29,000 times last year". He added: "This is not true, any outputs into the water in Lancashire and Cumbria is storm water only."
United Utilities also spoke out, stating that the Liberal Democrats figures are incorrect and 'misleading'. A spokesperson for United Utilies stated that the discharge figures represented storm overflow spills at multiple sites which feed into river catchments and could potentially impact Morecambe's bathing water.
However, one dog walker reported that raw sewage on the beach had been 'bad' for weeks. Liz McDermott said: "I wouldn't have swum in it anyway because they used to be a sewage pipe going out down the West End. You used to get a fabulous fish, but I wouldn't swim there.
"There's just been a recent, real influx of it. It's always been there, but not as bad as it has been the last few weeks." She added: "We've enjoyed seeing them swimming, even through lockdown seeing them swim up and down.
"If that's going to stop them - the wild swimmers - how can you tell people to swim with their mouths closed?"
She added: "One lady had said she'd been swimming up at Half Moon Bay, paddle boarding, all sorts - having a great time. Then they suddenly saw floaters. You don't really want that."
Another local, Zoe Read who operates a local pub on Marine Road, said: "Every morning there used to be a lot of swimmers, like probably 10 to 15. I've noticed recently in the past few weeks, they're not there at the moment.
"The dogs don't go much into the sea, but I took the grandkids out on the beach and into the sea. It is pretty dirty to be fair, it's not nice." A local fisherman, John Coombs, who's been at the bay since he was 16-years old said: "I've always enjoyed fishing on Morecambe Bay and it's never bothered me that it's been particularly bad, I used to swim in it when I was a youngster and it didn't bother me then.
"I do understand that they don't want to continue putting raw sewage into the bay. That is a really bad thing."
Ian Hurry lives in Morecambe and enjoys cycling on the promenade. He said: "I'm disappointed. Obviously with the storm, it was going to get dumped, but it should have been foreseen. I'm disappointed that it wasn't foreseen.
"It shouldn't happen and it's taken a lot of years before it wasn't dumped in the bay full stop anyhow. It used to get dumped in the bay, it reached a point where the bay was nice and clear, and now its a step backwards."
imon Banks-Lyon added: "What I don't understand is there is a huge measure they've got right up outside the Carlton Inn. There's a big measure with massive clogs that basically destroys all and puts it out.
"I heard it's not even working. Whether its true or not, I do not know. But what I'm saying is if they spent all that money on that big machine in there, and it's not in use, what are they doing with it?"
Marion Rushforth lives in Morecambe. She added: "I definitely wouldn't swim in it, but we don't normally swim in it either. It's been very popular in the summer, the amount of people that have been on here, which is good for trade, but that was before they announced that they were putting raw sewage into the bay.
"I should imagine [people] are not going to go into the sea as much. It will stop people coming. People could still come for the day and go to the beach. They've improved incredibly. They can all go round there.
"But it would deter me from going in."
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