Published: April 2, 2008
Burnham-On-Sea boat owners launch protest over jetty launch fees

Angry boat owners in Burnham-On-Sea are set to lobby local councillors over the rising cost of buying permits to launch their boats from the town's crumbling jetty.

They are unhappy with Sedgemoor District Council's decision to hike up the annual charge for using Burnham jetty, even though the structure has been half-closed since last summer and continues to crumble away due to its poor state of repair.

Dave Saunders, owner of Burnham-based fishing charter boat Kelly's Hero, said on Wednesday (April 2nd): "Why should we be paying higher fees to use the jetty when it is clearly being poorly maintained?"

"The lower half of the jetty has been closed for almost a year, so boat users should be paying half the normal fee - not being asked to pay an increase in launch fees."

Boat owners plan to send dozens of letters to councillors expressing their views about the charges.

The annual cost of permits rose on April 1st from £15 to £20 and boat owners must now also have public liability insurance for £3million before they use the jetty.

Sedgemoor District Council's Resort Officer for Burnham, Graham Newing, told Burnham-On-Sea.com there are a number of reasons behind the rise in jetty permits.

"The maintenance costs for the jetty have risen; we are introducing new safety signs along it to stop the public using the lower part; and there are also other costs for managing it which have risen," he said.

He added: "We recently carried out a survey of launch permit fees across the UK and actually found that Burnham's is very near - and in some cases below - the average cost of launch fees."

The crumbling jetty structure received another battering during last month's storms, with the tarmac and coping stones getting damaged.

The latest comments come after Burnham-On-Sea.com exclusively reported last month how the town council had lost its bid to get the jetty listed as a 'structure of special historic interest' in an attempt to secure hundreds of thousands of pounds for much-needed repairs. English Nature said the jetty is "not of sufficient special architectural or historic interest to merit listing."

Burnham-On-Sea.com understands that a local boat club has recently offered to resurface the jetty's tarmac for free - but this was turned down by the district council.

Meanwhile, town councillor Neville Jones is continuing to try and find funding to renovate and repair the structure.