THE MP for Ynys Môn, Virginia Crosbie, has welcomed new government proposals to limit the damage to marine life when dealing with unexploded munitions after she met with celebrity Joanna Lumley to highlight the issue.

Mrs Crosbie spoke with the TV star during a ‘Stop Sea Blasts’ event in Westminster yesterday (November 16).

There are more than 100,000 tonnes of unexploded ordnance (UXO) scattered in waters around the UK as a legacy of war.

Due to the construction of offshore wind farms, these bombs and mines must now be cleared.

But campaigners are concerned the current method of disposing of the munitions via detonation is hugely damaging to the marine environment.

To address the issue, the Government today issued new recommendations on the disposal of UXOs.

These include the prioritising of low noise alternatives to detonations when developing protocols to clear UXOs and a detailed impact assessment and mitigation plan to be submitted as part of any licence application.

Mrs Crosbie said: “As an island, our marine environment is incredibly important to us all and anything that is harming it must be looked at very carefully and improved.

“I have been very concerned about the way these munitions are being dealt with as we build new offshore wind capacity and I very much welcome the Government’s action on this.

“Joanna and I feel passionately about this issue. It was good to speak to her about it and I thank her and my colleague, Dr Lisa Cameron, for highlighting it.”