§ 54. Sir S. McAddenasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether he will make a statement on the recent oil pollution of the beaches of Southend-on-Sea; whether he proposes to compensate the county borough for the expense involved in cleaning the beaches; and what action is being taken to detect the ship responsible.
§ Mr. GreenwoodI would refer the hon. Member to the Answer I gave yesterday in reply to Questions by my hon. Friend the Member for Billericay (Mr. Moonman) and the hon. Member for Southend, West (Mr. Channon).
Regarding the last part of the Question, in attempts to trace the source of the pollution, the Port of London Authority took samples of the oil for testing: they checked all incoming tankers for evidence of a discharge and found none. As any one or more of about 200 other ships using the Port of London at the time could have caused the pollution, the 228W prospects of finding the culprit are remote.—[Vol. 784, c. 197.]