A NEW operation to stop children going missing on Southend seafront on busy summer days has been launched as police, council officials and businesses vow to tackle the problem.

Officers, businesses, CCTV operators, litter pickers and coastguard teams will work together in a bid to address issues that occur in the town on scorching days, which attract thousands of tourists to the beach and seafront.

It comes after the last sunny weekend, on May 7 and 8, attracted not only a surge of visitors but a multitude of problems with parking, antisocial behaviour and missing children.

At one point on the Sunday, police were searching for eight missing children who had got separated from their parents in the mass of people.

The initiative, named Operation Heatwave, is the brainchild of the safety advisory group chaired by Southend Council, will focus on implementing a new masterpoint for children and parents to congregate to be reunited as well as printing and publicising the extra wristbands aimed at reconciling lost children.

Chief inspector Simon Anslow, district commander for Southend, said: "The police and the council met together as part of the safety advisory group, which is a multi-agency that addresses issues around safety in Southend.

"From the council side of things, they are looking at making sure there is a missing person's reporting point clearly accessible - a place where kids can go if they lose their parents so they can be safely taken care of and reunited swiftly.

"They also want to have more publicity around the missing person's wristbands and additional members of staff manning the CCTV suite so they can keep an eye on the seafront on busy days.

"This is a great start on tackling the problem of missing children.

"Essex Police is the agency of choice when people first go missing so I am really grateful to the members of the safety advisory group for taking this on as an issue.

"They see that there is a role for them to play.

"We have the same issues on a busy summer's weekend on the seafront as we used to do when we had the air show.

"We are incredibly busy with people losing their children."

Mr Anslow said the operation will be put into place when a weather report suggests warm temperatures.

As part of the operation, Southend’s Business Improvement District will publicise their scheme of wristbands that contain information on how lost children can be reunited with parents.

It will print 5,000 wristbands this year, which will be available at 30 locations across the town centre and seafront in coming weeks.

More than 80,000 have been distributed over the last three years and more than 200 children have been reunited thanks to the scheme.

Dawn Jeakings, chairman of the scheme, said: “The bands are out there and we just need to make sure people are aware of them and use them.

“At the moment the bands have two numbers on them for parents if they get lost.

“There is also emergency information and we would ask someone who finds the child to ring 101.”

Ann Holland, Southend councillor responsible for tourism, said the operation will not only tackle missing children but also respond to issues such as parking and littering.

She said: “Operation Heatwave is a work in progress that will formalise how the council, the police and BID work together to plan for busy weekends on the seafront and then better respond to issues such as the reporting of missing children, traffic, parking, antisocial behaviour and littering.

“Under the proposals being worked up, it would typically be rolled out on weekends and during school and public holidays when good weather is forecast.

"It would seek to pull together resources from all participating parties to ensure that visitors can enjoy their stay in Southend safely and leave wanting to return.

“We are still at the early stages of pulling together a joint plan but hope to make swift progress.”