SAFETY at the Ministry of Defence testing sites on Foulness Island has to be improved, the Government has said.

Rochford.gov.uk" target="_blank">Rochford District Council is being recommended to agree eight proposals by the ministry to make sure the storing of explosives is made safer.

The explosives are stored using mobile chambers, which now need additional safety precautions because of the Manufacture and Storage of Explosives Regulations of 2005.

Proposals are to build eight concrete shelters surrounded by large walls of earth to store the munitions.

Roger Burroughs, chairman of Foulness Parish Council, who farms on the island, said: “We’re concerned about both safety and the impact one of the new structures is going to have on the conservation area.

“It’s going to be on the other side of the main road to the actual testing site itself, which means explosives will have to be moved across what can be quite a busy road.

“One thing we would like to know is why the siting, which will have an impact on the area, is necessary and it could not be somewhere else within Churchend battery, rather than where it is proposed to be.

“The other worry we have is the sort of ammunition they will be using at Churchend. We would be unhappy with high explosives that close to a conservation area.

“We have no objections to any of the other proposals, because we appreciate the work has to go on at Foulness, but we think the conservation area should be protected as much as possible.”

Shaun Scrutton, head of planning at the council, said the parish council and three residents on the island had objected to one of the proposals at Churchend Battery.

Mr Scrutton added: “The proposal is considered to be essential for the continuing function of the testing facilities, which are of national importance and cannot be located elsewhere.

“There are no possible alternative sites which would be available in areas with a lower probability of flooding.”

He said it was recommended by the county council that there should be a professional archaeological investigation of each of the sites because of the historical importance of the area.

Unless any member wants the applications discussed by the development control committee, they will be approved.