OWNERS of boats in Minehead Harbour were being held to ransom by new Somerset Council charges, local MP Ian Liddell-Grainger said on Monday (May 20).

Mr Liddell-Grainger said as well as paying mooring fees to keep their boats in the harbour, owners now had to pay extra to reach them.

The council has brought in a £200 a year permit which boat owners now need to launch tenders from the harbour slipway to reach their vessels.

Mr Liddell-Grainger said the charge, one of several increased harbour fees, was unjustifiable and should be scrapped.

Boat owners said they felt unfairly penalised and the £200 tender fee was 10 times the amount charged at many other harbours and marinas.

Among other fees the council is charging is £120 for permits to launch kayaks from the slipway.

Mr Liddell-Grainger said it was a deplorable move by the council and one taken without any prior consultation.

He said: “This is one of the most poorly-equipped harbours in the Westcountry.

“There are no electricity points for boats, no showers, and the only ‘facility’ is a single cold tap.

“Yet, rather than improving facilities for harbour users, the council’s only aim appears to be to bleed them white.

“It is no wonder the harbour is so under-used, people are simply taking their boats somewhere else.

“You cannot charge people money for mooring their boats and then tell them they have to pay again to get out to them, it is outrageous - like selling somebody a car and then announcing the engine is extra.”

Mr Liddell-Grainger said the council was already in trouble over its management of the 17th century listed harbour with officials accused of criminal damage last year for approving the removal of two 300-year-old cannon which were sunk into the ground in the 1800s and used as mooring bollards.

He said the latest controversy placed a large question mark over the authority’s entire management ability.

Mr Liddell-Grainger said: “The harbour is a tremendous local asset and a great attraction for visitors.

“Any decent council would be looking to enhance the harbour area and make it even more attractive.

“Instead, Somerset Council’s only intention appears to be to squeeze every last penny it can out of anybody using it.

“The utterly crass way these charges have been imposed together with the scandalous incident with the cannons convinces me the council cannot properly run the harbour at all.

“In which case it should hand the job over to a new, locally-elected organisation which can.”

The council said as a Statutory Harbour Authority it was entitled to ‘raise dues from all users of the harbour’, including the slipway, to as far as possible run it on a cost neutral basis.

A council spokesperson said fees went up in line with other council charges and it was only aware of ‘a few isolated users being unhappy’.

The spokesperson said: “We are happy to speak with Mr Liddell-Grainger to provide a more complete understanding of the current issue.”