SAND from land-based sources will not be used to replenish beaches in Poole for the foreseeable future in the wake of the asbestos incident that closed Shore Road and Flaghead Chine last January.

And town hall officers have been told to draw up a "robust and secure system" to ensure the quality of all sand used to replenish the beaches in the future.

But a meeting to examine what went wrong and what lessons have been learned did not go far enough, in the view of one councillor.

Cabinet members responsible for beaches and contractors who were allowed to dump material on the beach should have been brought in to answer questions, according to Cllr Graham Wilson. He is a member of the council's watchdog scrutiny committee looking at the quality of the services provided by the Borough of Poole.

A report into why building material, including asbestos, ended up on the prize beach last winter was brought before councillors.

The cross-party scrutiny committee instructed officers to draw up a system that will prevent a repeat of the episode, which cost the council £32,928 to clean up.

How the asbestos got onto the beach has never been conclusively proven.

At the time sand was being placed on the sand from a building site in nearby Shore Road.

The council has admitted it failed to follow procedures to monitor the quality of material being used replenish the beach.

Cllr Wilson said: "I'm not content. We had seven council officers at the committee but there were very important people not there who we should have been able to question.

"Lots of things that were said could not be answered."

Chairman Cllr Jeff Allen agreed he would have liked the opportunity to quiz former leisure and recreation portfolio holder Cllr Jonathan Pethen and current post holder Cllr Don Collier.

Committee member Cllr Pethen stayed away because he felt it would have been inappropriate to be involved in the scrutiny procedure, while Cllr Collier was in the USA and had not been asked to attend. Both said they would be prepared to answer questions if requested.

Cllr Allen's suggestion for a working group to report back was not taken up by the committee. He added: "I would have preferred a report back to the committee rather than just going through it on the night."

Vice chairman Cllr Les Burden said: "Mistakes have been made, lessons learnt, all necessary disciplinary actions taken, and we must now concentrate on the future to ensure the safety and cleanliness of our beaches."

First published: Sept 6