SOUTHEND’S beaches could lose their coveted blue flag awards after water quality tests were carried out on the same day oil began washing ashore.

The results go towards the awards which judge a beach’s water quality, cleanliness, facilities and access.

It could mean Shoebury East Beach and Shoebury Common Beach, which saw oil washed up on Monday, could lose their flags the next time the awards are announced.

Efforts to clean up the oil slick, which was caused by fuel leaking from an Italian cargo ship, continued yesterday, but black oil globules remain on the beaches.

Anthony Chytry, 56, from Royston Avenue, Southend, regularly walks along the beach, along with his wife and son. He said: “I am concerned about the state of the beach at the moment because I can still see some clumps of oil in seaweed.

“Some people are still going on the beach because I don’t think they can see the signs. It is quite alarming to think that if this is a fairly small spill, how would we cope if there was a larger one. I have spoken to some people who have travelled down for the day and cannot go on the beach, which is a problem.”

As part of the stringent criteria for a beach to be awarded a blue flag, which is recognised around the world, the water quality must indicate no industrial or sewage-related discharges may affect the beach area and the water needs to be of excellent quality for bathers.

The criteria also states an emergency plan must be in place to cope with pollution safety risks.

Southend’s seawater is tested every week by the Environment Agency, and this week it was tested on Monday when the oil began to wash on to the beaches.

Jill Partington, spokeswoman from Keep Britain Tidy, organiser of the awards, said: “The blue flag programme requires beaches have a procedure in place to react to emergencies such as an oil spillage.

“Blue flags and quality coast awards have been removed from the beaches in the area and notices have been displayed to inform the public about the incident for health and safety reasons.”

She said the council may score highly in the awards for the way it dealt with the oil spill.

She added: “We are almost out of bathing season, which is when the flags get taken down anyway.

“We are confident Southend Council has followed its emergency plan and that it is working hard on a clean-up operation.

“We will be in touch with the council in the coming weeks to ensure the cleanliness and safety of the beaches has been restored.”

Southend Council has taken down its blue flags, citing health and safety reasons.

Ian Robertson, councillor for enterprise, tourism and regeneration, said: “We do not think it will affect the blue flag award. By the time it gets round to getting the award next year I am confident it will be all sorted.

“It will be a little while before it is clean again, but we will certainly be keeping on top of the clean up.”