SEWAGE was pumped into the sea on Bournemouth beach last week after workers damaged a power cable.

Bournemouth council said teams working on the Pier Approach phase two preliminary works struck the cable on Thursday, and SSE engineers had to be called to make repairs.

Wessex Water said the outage cut power to a pumping station, and "wastewater" was released into the sea to prevent sewage flooding the highway. A replacement generator was in place later in the afternoon.

Bill Cotton, the council's executive director, said: "As a result of the power failure the Environment Agency notified the council to say that foul water was being pumped into the sea from the pumping station overflow pipe.

"As a precautionary measure, signage advising people to stay off sections of beach and not to enter the sea were distributed.

"These remained until Friday evening when they were removed, as the Environment Agency’s required amount of tidal movement to restore normal water quality levels had taken place."

The council's phase two works will see the western side of Pier Approach re-surfaced to match the section around the fountain, with new street furniture.