Anger grows over prom railings (From Clacton and Frinton Gazette)

Anger grows over prom railings

1:24pm Monday 8th February 2010

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CASH for new railings in Brightlingsea should have gone on regenerating the sea front, according to town traders.

The riverside community is angry over Tendring Council’s plans to improve safety by putting up barriers along the promenade.

Councillors and company bosses said the work would undermine 20 years of efforts to make the area more attractive to tourists.

Business association chairman Des Rowson said: “Instead of bringing in more tourism this will frighten tourists away.

“I’ve noticed some of the railings they have put up elsewhere along the coast are not even upright.

“At high tide when the water comes almost level with the promenade, the kids will be diving in off the top of them - it will be more dangerous with them than without.”

Builder Graham Mann, a town councillor and the licensee at Brightlingsea’s community centre, said: “Tendring Council is taking health and safety to the extreme. The resentment in the town is incredible."

Tendring Council is looking to put up the railings in the 2011/12 financial year on the advice of its insurance company after an elderly lady died when her mobility scooter went over the edge of the waterfront at Holland-on-Sea a few years ago.

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