A comedy legend says the ongoing saga of sewage being dumped in the sea is “beyond belief” after speaking to business owners in Whitstable.

The town featured in comedian Paul Whitehouse’s new series, Our Troubled Rivers, on BBC Two this month.

The Fast Show star discovered how regular sewage discharges by Southern Water are causing problems for the area’s famous oyster industry.

For his new programme, he visited Graham West - who heads West Whelks in the town’s harbour, one of Kent’s biggest shellfish operators - to talk about the impact it is having on his business.

Mr West has previously spoken to KentOnline about how people have “lost confidence” in the town’s produce.

“These are the world-famous Whitstable Native Oysters, which go back 2,000 years,” the trader told Mr Whitehouse.

“Where you found them, you found the Romans.

“People do not want them because they associate Whitstable with Whitstable water, with Whitstable pollution.

“I am buying Jersey oysters because I have more guarantee they are clean. “But it’s costing me £20,000 extra a year out of my pocket.”

Mr Whitehouse described the shellfish operator’s situation as “tragic”.

“You’re a local Whitstable man, your family’s been here for generations and it’s thrived on this very thing, and here you are having to go elsewhere,” he added.

Southern Water was hit with a record £90 million fine in July 2021 after unleashing up to 21 billion litres of sewage into protected waters between 2010 and 2015.

And it continues to face criticism over permitted releases off the Kent coast during periods of heavy rainfall, some of which have sparked warnings to bathers to avoid swimming in the sea.

Mr West added: “Every day I buy oysters, use Whitstable water, I’m playing Russian roulette with people and my business because if I poison 20 people, the insurance ramifications on that are colossal.”

Mr Whitehouse responded: “It’s just crazy. I know I keep saying it, but it’s beyond belief what’s going on.”

Oysters are seen as a fundamental part of the identity of Whitstable, which has been associated with the seafood for hundreds of years.

The famous molluscs have been harvested in the town since Roman times, with oyster shells from Whitstable even discovered in the Colosseum.

Ownership of the Whitstable oyster beds was granted by Royal Patent in 1574 to Thomas Henage and others, who leased them to local fisherman.

The Company of Free Fishers and Dredgers of Whitstable (CFFDW) had the benefit of the oyster fishery in Whitstable.

Parliament passed an act in 1793 which gave ownership of the fishery to the company.

CFFDW became the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company (WOFC) in 1895, which took control of the oyster fishery.

In the 1860s, there were about 80 million oysters being sent each year to Billingsgate - but by the 1970s a succession of bad winters, disease and pollution had virtually wiped out the entire stock.

The Whitstable Oyster Festival continues to be held each summer, attracting thousands of people to the town.

Our Troubled Rivers is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.