FLOOD warning sirens across Essex could be decommissioned after a review found they were coming to the end of their natural life.

Tracey Chapman, Essex County Council’s cabinet member responsible for emergency planning, will take a decision on the future of the county’s 36 sirens next month.

The council reviewed the sirens, in flood risk areas including Canvey, Benfleet, Hullbridge, Tilbury, Jaywick and Burnham.

Norfolk and Lincolnshire County Councils have already made the decision to stop using the siren system.

But Canvey councillor Ray Howard, who remembers the devastating 1953 floods when he was a boy, is concerned about Essex following suit. He said: “I am very disappointed to hear they are going to be abandoned.

“People recognise them as a warning device and although I recognise we are in for severe cuts and technology has advanced, I still feel they are the most effective way of warning people.

“Why take something away when it is a very useful service?”

The council says new technology, developed by the Environment Agency, means experts can provide at least 12 hours’ notice of an impending flood.

A spokesman said: “The police and Environment Agency have decided they will not authorise the use and sounding of the sirens and have expressed concern about their effectiveness if they are used.

“This, coupled with the age of the sirens, the difficulty in finding spare parts, and the need to switch to a new digital system by 2014, means they are coming to the end of their natural life.”

A final decision on the sirens will be made next month.