SOUTHEND'S public health chief has stepped in to back the move to axe the town's popular autumn fireworks displays on the seafront.

Krishna Ramkhelawon, director of public health at Southend Council, spoke after 

the annual seafront firework displays were cancelled for 2020 in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The free fireworks spectaculars have been running since 1996 with the Southend Business Improvement District (BID), taking over responsibility of organizing the displays from Southend Council in 2013.

Each display saw more than 1,700 fireworks fired into the night sky from a barge moored 400 metres from the shore of city beach.

Mr Ramkhelawon said: “As a country and also locally, we continue to work to control and prevent the spread of coronavirus, and we must continue to do all we can in this regard. Currently the rate of infection is increasing gradually in Southend-on-Sea as it is nationally, and we continue to put new measures and controls in place to keep this as low as possible.

“Encouraging crowds to gather intensely and over a short period of time as they do for the fireworks is unfortunately just not something we can do at this time from a public health perspective, given the indication of increasing infection rates.

"It would be dangerous and irresponsible.”

The displays historically take place on Saturdays from the start of October through to November Christmas light switch on event each year which was cancelled at an earlier date.