Gorleston and East Runton have seen sewage discharged into the sea from storm overflows.

The alerts have been in place since Thursday, shortly before 1am for Gorleston and 6.15pm for East Runton.

It is the 24th leak at Gorleston so far this year.

The popular beach has been named among the best in the country and in Europe by a variety of news outlets.

However, this leak means that Gorleston beach has seen a sewage leak, on average, more than once every 1.5 weeks.

Sewage overspills are normally triggered by periods of rainfall, which result in storm overflow systems discharging into the sea.

Earlier this summer, a spokesman for Anglian Water said: “We know our customers and communities feel strongly that storm overflow discharges are unacceptable, and we agree.

“Our long-term goal is to completely stop using storm overflows, but getting there isn’t something we can do overnight.

“We’ve already removed more than 340 storm overflows from our network entirely, and we’re investing £1 billion between now and 2030 to tackle storm spills by installing more stormwater storage and preventing rain and groundwater from getting into our pipes to begin with, making storm overflow activations less likely.”

An Anglian Water spokesman said: “We know our customers and communities feel strongly that storm overflow discharges are unacceptable, and we agree.

“Storm overflows have been part of the sewer system for decades, and they were originally designed to protect homes and businesses from internal sewer flooding during heavy rainfall – something they still do today.

“Our long-term goal is to completely stop using storm overflows, but getting there isn’t something we can do overnight.”