A HUGE party involving more than 50 people saw huge amounts of broken glass strewn across Chalkwell beach.

Business and council bosses are furious at the mess left behind from the mass gathering, which left pizza boxes and broken bottles of alcohol tarnishing the beach on Sunday morning.

Nearby Saltwater Beach Cafe owner Liz Carr was forced to clean up the mess along with a passerby.

Police say they did not disperse the gathering on Saturday evening, despite attending the scene.

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Martin Terry, councillor in charge of community safety, dubbed those responsible, reported to be teenagers, “selfish and irresponsible.”

He said: “Their parents need to be taking more responsibility of their children. It’s really irritating and frustrating.

“They’re risking lives. They really think they’re invincible. We need to find a way to get through to our young people.

“We cannot forget we have a virus on our hands. This is a community responsibility.

“Police cannot enforce social distancing. They can issue a dispersal order if anti-social behaviour or violence going on.

“Dispersal orders are not a long term solution.”

Mr Terry branded reports on social media that “at least 50 young people were on the beach”, as a “conservative estimate.”

He also said police were ramping up patrols and Southend Council have doubled their community safety investment.

Mrs Carr added: “We had to clean it after what looked like a party the night before. There was a lot of litter.

“We are in talks with the council about trying to get bigger industrial bins for the beaches and also to get signs put up along the seafront.

“This will warn of the effects on the environment by leaving litter when it gets blown in the the sea and the surrounding green areas.”

A spokesman from Essex Police said: “We received reports of a group of people on the beach near Chalkwell Esplanade at around 7.45pm on Saturday 18 July.

“Officers attended and assessed and monitored the situation. The group left the area later that evening.”