Action must be taken to preserve Old Leigh’s fishing and cockling industry, Southend’s council leader has said.

John Lamb called for maintenance of Two Tree Island to be a priority at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting heard there are fears toxins could leach into the Thames Estuary from the former landfill site on which the island, now a nature reserve, was created.

Council leader John Lamb told the meeting that proper repair work was necessary to stop pollution and toxins escaping from the island’s old landfill site.

He said: “If they leach out it has health effects, and it has a big effect of our multi million pound fishing industry.

“Cockle beds could become contaminated.”

Concerns over the island’s contaminated past were revealed in a report to Cabinet about a £400m sea defence plan.

The report said Two Tree Island should be one of the first areas to be upgraded because of “health risks”.

It said: “Two Tree Island is only considered within the first areas because of the significant health risks associated with the legacy landfill.

“This is critical because of the long term risks to human health and the natural environment posed by the legacy landfill.”

The report recommended a “patch and repair approach” but Mr Lamb insisted this was not enough. He said: “I don’t want to see them patched. I want it properly repaired. This is part of our economy and we don’t want to see it damaged.”

Two Tree Island is one of Southend’s most popular nature reserves.

The 640 acre island is home to reedbeds, nightingales, lagoons and breeding avocets, but it has a murky past.

Between the 1930s and 1970s the entire island was used as a landfill site.

Cabinet members approved the flood defence scheme, including Two Tree Island repairs, subject to Environment Agency approval.

Last year, Leigh was given £800,000 investment to go towards various projects to secure Leigh’s cockle industry as a “protected geographic identity” and encourage sales of cockles straight from boats.

Cash will also go towards surveys into why certain fish, like Dover sole, aren’t as prominent as they used to be.