THERE is something seriously amiss with Maldon District Council when it has any dealings with the River Blackwater and the waterside community.

The list of blunders is long and alarming.

First there was the decision which resulted in the 100-year-old marine lake turning into a rat- infested duck pond.

Next, the squandering of a good part of the central government grant intended for improvements to the Prom Park on a sea wall with a specification more suitable to an exposed coastline than the top end of a shallow estuary and compounding this stupidity by overlooking the fact that the builders of the wall omitted to put in the specified concrete foundations at the north end of the wall, leaving the wall sitting on mud, which is steadily being washed away.

Then a crackpot scheme, produced by expensive consultants, to put a pedestrian bridge across the river below Fullbridge, thus isolating the boatyards and dry dock at the top of the waterfront.

The drawings for this piece of nonsense showed vessels with tall masts on the up river side of the bridge.

This was followed by a scheme to put a series of small retail outlets on the quay, cheerfully ignoring the fact that the quay is regularly covered with water at spring tides.

Bad as the above list is, none have the crude insensitivity of the current proposal to drive Maldon Yacht Club from its long-established base just past the end of the Prom.

The club has been established for 79 years.

The members are ordinary, hard-working people who have, through their own efforts, made a real and valuable asset for the local community.

Don’t get it wrong again, councillors. For once do the right and honourable thing and forget about your beach huts.

Michael Lewis

Downs Road, Maldon