AFTER protests from representatives of Watchet Sea Scouts, voluntary groups and the area’s fishing community, West Somerset Council has suspended its controversial new Watchet and Minehead harbour fees for 12 months.

As reported in last week’s Free Press, anglers fishing from the harbour could be charged up to £50 a year under a scheme which was hoped to save up to £3,000.

There was also an outcry over a decision to charge Watchet sea scouts £100 for processing paperwork involved in using the outer harbour slipway.

After fishermen, sea scouts leaders, community organisations and several councillors urged the authority to have a change of heart, the council passed an amendment from Cllr Dave Westcott that fees for anglers and voluntary bodies using the harbour be suspended for a year.

The controversy over the sea scouts centred around a mislaid 1948 document which claimed that the group had free use of the harbour for 100 years. The proposed charge would be an administration fee for inspection of the paperwork.

Cllr Martin Dewdney, lead member for the environment, said that the £100 fee to the sea scouts was not a slipway charge but an administration charge which the council had to levy.

Full report in the Free Press