It seems the current Maldon District Council wishes to go down in history as the council which not only wanted to get rid of the town’s 70-year-old dinghy sailing club from the end of the Prom, but also forced the barges moored at Hythe Quay to permanently depart to other ports.

This will undoubtedly be the result if plans for a vast increase (94per cent) in wharfage charges on Hythe Quay go ahead.

I can appreciate MDC has a huge debt and that a large sum of money has been spent on refurbishing Hythe Quay. No doubt Government cuts have not helped MDC, or any other council for that matter, but Maldon does have an absolute goldmine in the form of the Promenade Park, where there is so much visitor parking available to provide revenue all year round. I can think of no other town in the area which has such a resource as this.

It is important for the current council and its leaders to realise they are merely custodians of the river and its amenities. They, as individuals, do not own Hythe Quay or the Promenade Park, but they should be maintaining and protecting these for future generations.

They should certainly not be making such dismissive statements as to suggest that “if the barges go to another port, it would be a tragic loss, but something else will replace them”. I surely cannot be alone in finding this attitude utterly unbelievable.

A visit to MDC’s website and general publicity for the town will invariably show photographs of Hythe Quay, resplendent with Thames Barges. How many souvenir items from the town have featured barges down the years?

I cannot imagine walking down past St Mary’s Church to the sight of a barren Hythe Quay. This is exactly why so many people visit Maldon, indeed, what it is famous for.

The current council seems to put little or no value on these historic vessels, thinking they can just be tossed aside as items of no value because they are unable to afford the increased wharfage charges.

What a truly shameful legacy for this council to leave, it is nothing short of heritage vandalism.

So, MDC, the public outcry your leader predicted begins.

I sincerely hope the people of Maldon will take a stand against this. If not, MDC, you’d better start looking for a graphic designer (no doubt a very expensive one) to swiftly redesign your logo which has, well there’s a surprise, a Thames Barge on it.

S C Graves

Cross Road, Maldon