BOAT owners have been backed by Harwich’s MP in their fight against eviction.

The Harwich Small Boat Owners’ Association has been given until May 12 to vacate Gas House Creek, where it has a clubhouse and where members keep their boats both in and out of the water.

But sailors say they have been using the site for decades and have nowhere else in the town to go.

Harwich and North Essex MP Bernard Jenkin has now joined them in their battle against landowner Hutchison Ports.

He said: “I’m pretty appalled with the way they are being treated.

“I don’t know what the legal position is but they have used the quay for perhaps 100 years.

“There is nowhere else for small boat owners to tie up their boats in Harwich.

“And if the only reason is health and safety, what about this enormous company’s responsibility to the community.”

Mr Jenkin is writing to Hutchison Ports in support of the boat owners and is hoping to get more backing for their cause.

A letter sent to the association from Hutchison Ports, which owns the land, says they have until midday on May 12 to leave - anything left will be “considered abandoned”, removed and unclaimed items sold.

It said health and safety concerns are behind the move as they plan to “clear the site and make it safe”.

A spokesman for the company last week said they were still in talks with the boat owners about their “unauthorised use of land at Gas House Creek”.

Mr Jenkin added that the situation has “echoes of Free the Quay in Mistley”.

He supported campaigners in the village after a quayside, often used by sailors for temporary mooring, was fenced off in 2008 by landowner Trent Wharfage due to health and safety reasons.

After protests and legal battles the quayside was given village green status, which it is hoped could finally see the fence taken down.