THE Navy could minesweep Southend seafront to remove all unexploded bombs and detonate them in one go.

The bomb squad is considering surveying the entire foreshore and clearing all ordnance to protect the public and cut costs after being called to deal with more than 250 shells in five years, a third of which were explosive, the Echo can reveal.

The MOD confirmed once the amount of ordinance still lying undetected on the foreshore is assessed, it may be taken away for disposal, or the squad may detonate all the explosives found in one go.

The Royal Navy Ordnance Disposal Team has been called out to 279 items of ordinance around Southend since 2008, ranging from anti-aircraft shells to an anti-submarine warfare mortar,afreedom of information request by the Echo revealed.

A spokesman for the team said: “Work is ongoing to examine whether a dedicated Explosive Ordnance Clearance (EOC) Operation would be a more cost and time effective way of reducing the number of items that may still remain in the area.

“A survey with bespoke equipment would form part of this EOC Operation and would go some way to determining the number and location of possible items of ordnance.”