'Raw sewage' spilling into sea and onto beach

A SEPTIC tank on an island off the Northumberland coast appears to have been spilling raw sewage onto a beach and into the sea. The tank is on Coquet Island, a nationally important seabird colony and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), which members of the public are not allowed to land on.

- DANIEL HALL Reporter

Coquet Island is the only place in the UK that Roseate terns, Britain’s rarest seabird, breed during the spring. It is home to more than 40,000 breeding seabirds and is also an important site for nesting puffins and Common, Sandwich and Arctic terns, while razorbill chicks fledged at the colony for the first time ever this year.

The Journal understands that the RSPB is responsible for maintaining the septic tank and the pipework. The RSPB said it is aware of some “small discharges” and is waiting on the Environment Agency to approve plans for a new sewerage system and septic tank, with Natural England saying that the works are due to begin this autumn.