A BOAT owner is calling on a town council to stop charging to launch vessels from Brightlingsea Hard because it “belongs to the public”.

Brightlingsea Town Council starting charging boat owners to use the hard in 2007 and prices range from between £25 and £75 depending on the size of the boat.

Gary Humm, owner of Brightlingsea Boat Maintenance, believes the town’s hard is a public highway and users should not have to pay.

Mr Humm, 40, has compiled a 46-page dossier with maps, deeds and reports dating back to the 1840s to prove who owns it.

He believes the confusion arose when the town council registered neighbouring land with Land Registry and mistakenly included the hard area when earmarking another plot.

He said: “I am trying to fight this on behalf of the whole town.

“I have grown up here and when I was growing up I launched for free, I don’t want my children to grow up and have to pay.

“They are charging people to take their boat down and put it in the water where as for hundreds of years it has been used by the public for free because it is a right of way.

“You cannot be charged for access.

“The town council has a duty to rectify the mistake which was made by the previous council.

“People come from miles around to launch their boats here but they won’t if they can do it for free somewhere else.”

The hard is run by the harbourmaster on behalf of the town council.

Mayor Jayne Chapman said Brightlingsea Town Council will be making a comment on the issue at its meeting on Thursday.