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Council hits out at coal dust claim
SCARBOROUGH Borough Council has hit back at claims that coal dust travelling all the way from Whitby is to blame for a black oily substance collecting on Cleethorpes Beach.
The Grimsby Telegraph featured a story in which Deana Peters spotted the "smelly liquid" at the water's edge and claimed it spoilt her trip to the Lincolnshire coast with her daughter and grandchildren.
She said: "We walked to the edge of the water and were disgusted with what we saw.
"The edge of the water was black, oily and really smelly.
"What is the council doing with all the money it's getting from taxpayers.
"Something should be done. Our children deserve a clean beach to play on."
The explanation that the residue had come from Whitby was given by the resort's manager Rob Chalmers who said the coal dust travels from Whitby.
He urged people who spot the deposits to call their environmental health department.
But John Riby, Scarborough Borough Council's head of technical services, said coal dust on the east coast does go up and down depending on the tides from Durham towards Whitby and it goes into the sand sediment.
However, he said there is "no evidence" to suggest it has come from Whitby.
"Occasionally dust gets mixed in with sediment but it's not an oily substance," he said.
"I can't see how it could get as far as Grimsby or Cleethorpes."
One reader of the Grimsby Telegraph came up with a more likely explanation for the deposits.
DW from Grimsby posted on the paper's website in defence of Whitby: "How do they know it's from Whitby?
"It could be from Immingham.
"You want to see the amount of coal on the jetty side when a coal ship sails and a good bit often falls into the river.
"This then gets dredged up from the berth and dumped mid-river in the dumping ground which is then washed down stream."
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Weather for Whitby
Saturday 11 February 2012
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Temperature: -0 C to 1 C
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