NOT for the first time Morecambe beach was named as one of the most polluted in Europe this week.

But on this occasion the powerful ministers on the Commission - the people who run the European Union - are taking the UK government to court about the state of the beach and others.

But Mark Turner, chairman of the city council's department of environmental health, dismissed the suggestion in The Times newspaper on Tuesday as 'tosh'.

"There's more chance of being drowned than picking up any kind of disease or any complaint from Morecambe's beach or sea," he said.

"This has got a lot to do with faulty testing and the national newspapers should get their facts straight when they mention Morecambe."

The European Commission tested 496 bathing areas last year. Of these only 34 districts failed to meet the minimum standards. Morecambe South was one. Rival tourist resorts Blackpool and St Annes also received black marks.

Morecambe failed because of the amount of faecal coliforms (a bacteria typically found in the gut) in the water.

More than half of Britain's beaches failed to reach the recommended standards of cleanliness but only those 34 failed to gain the minimum standards. The EU's minimum standards require 20 per cent of samples taken between May and September to contain fewer than 10,000 coliforms per 100 millilitres of water and fewer than 2,000 faecal coliforms per 100ml.

The British Government now has to reply to the European Commission's opinion. If the Commission is unhappy with that response they will take the case to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Ultimately Britain could face heavy fines.

Last year, when the European Commission's statistics were first released, it was suggested that the condition of the beach was improving. This time no officers at the city council's environmental health department was available for comment.

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