SALCOMBE Harbour Board has recommended refusal of permission to allow waterskiing and other watersports within the Kingsbridge and Salcombe estuary limits.

The Board met at Cliff House, Salcombe, on Monday and emotions ran high with crowds of people attending.

James Heaven and the Salcombe and Kingsbridge Estuary Waterskiing Association, SKEWA, put forward a proposal to allow waterskiing and wakeboarding to take place within the estuary limits – at Widegates and at the Bar – due to safety concerns at the current site, Starehole Bay.

The board invited the public to make their case, either for or against allowing watersports on the estuary and many raised concerns regarding the estuary being designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a Site of Special Scientific Inter-est.

Chris Klee, vice chair of the Kingsbridge Natural History Society, spoke about the disturbance of birds by the noise and movement of faster boats and worries about the ability to police the area.

The Kingsbridge Estuary Boat Club was also against the proposal, stating that 'Widegates was a destination in itself' and wasn't just a passage to the sea.

Alan, a local resident, lives in one of three or four houses closest to Widegates and said that at times, he could hear people talking on the other side of the river – so the noise would carry and would be a problem.

Roger Simcox added he didn't believe that waterskiing and angling went together and Jane Parker represented the East Portlemouth Foreshore Owners Association and stated they were 'unanimously against it'. Peter Stratton stated the proposal went against the Harbour Board's own policy and designation of the estuary, as the 'priority to conserve nature'.

Gordon Waterhouse, school teacher and local bird expert, said he had found a letter that he had written to the harbour master and the council in 1983, stating that birds use Kingsbridge Estuary as a pit-stop on the way from Iceland to North Africa for the winter. This information helped lead to the estuary being designated as an SSSI and waterskiing was specifically prohibited.

Nick Potter said 'tranquillity was a rarity in life now' and people come to the estuary to experience it.

But John Horne, of Aune Valley Water Ski Club, urged the board to hear both sides of the argument as they had a situation in Aune Valley where water-skiers and other water users got on well.

This argument backfired slightly when another member of the club, Paul McCarthy, suggested only older people were against the idea – and many people asked: 'If there is such a good waterskiing area in Aune Valley, why don't they go there rather than here?'

Another member of the public stated that there was nothing wrong with waterskiing, but that they were trying to 'reconcile the irreconcilable' and raised concerns over the ability to regulate and police a speed limit for other users if water-skiers could exceed it but others couldn't.

A member of the British Water Ski and Wakeboard Association spoke in favour of the proposals and called attention to the stringent rules and regulations that people have to adhere to in order to gain their ski-boat award through them – if all the boat handlers had this award, 'then you would have top class drivers and behaviour', he said.

After members of the public had been heard, James Heaven of SKEWA, put his proposal.

He spoke about how much he loves Salcombe, his journey to become a water-ski instructor and his passion for the area and the sport.

He talked about the inadequacy of the present area at Starehole Bay and said it was more a case of the dangers being caused by a lack of knowledge rather than wilful ignorance.

He said the speed limit past the Bar was a new introduction since 2009 and to remove that and allow waterskiing on the Bar would be a good start and would relieve some of the pressure on Starehole Bay.

Having counted the boats in and around Salcombe, he said, a large majority had the ability to tow a skier and many had water-ski-specific adaptations.

This led him to call water-skiers in Salcombe a 'silent majority being pushed out and made to make do with a death trap'.

He added that a licence for waterskiing on the estuary would be a good way to bring money in to the council and therefore it wouldn't cost anything to implement the proposal – it would actually create money.

He said it would be easy to 'step-back' if the proposals turned out to be ill-advised and that the ability to ski at Starehole Bay and the Bar would be 'satisfactory'. If he was wrong, the changes could be 'rolled back overnight'.

Adam Parnell, Harbour Master, said that he saw the proposal as having three main points. One was Starehole Bay that was considered 'dangerous, due to a lack of driver skills'. The second would be Widegates, which he thought had 'a lot of merit, navigationally' and the third would be the Bar, which was 'less emotive' but 'potentially dangerous' and from his personal experience he would say no to waterskiing on the Bar.

Mr Parnell went on to say jurisdiction over Starehole Bay was hard because a third party owned it.

He summed up by saying there were three options open to the board: to note the reports and discuss them, to reject the proposal, or to attempt to move forward at Starehole Bay and find a solution to the safety concerns.

Nigel Mortimer, the estuaries officer for the AONB, said the main issues were the special qualities of the estuary wildlife and the high value that the local community puts on the tranquillity of the area, saying 'whether real or perceived is irrelevant'.

Cllr Keith Wingate proposed to refuse the proposal, saying: 'I can't see the justification for the use of the upper estuary as the SSSI is so important'. But he added that they should look into what could be done at Starehole Bay. Cllr Hicks said that he was happy to second.

Hugh Marriage, board member, said there was great value in James Heaven's report; that the board had never been presented with a report as detailed and comprehensive.

But he said the speed limit hadn't actually changed on the estuary since 1954, it was just the enforcement that had changed.

He continued that there was no way skiing at Widegates would be acceptable and suggested Start Bay as dead water that skiers could use. He urged the board to keep skiing out of the harbour and 'maintain the 1954 speed limits'.

At the end of the meeting, Cllr Julian Brazil, chairman, called for a vote for the board to recommend to the full meeting of South Hams Council in December, to refuse the proposal to allow waterskiing in the Kingsbridge and Salcombe estuary.

This was passed unanimously – with the addition of further investigations into issues surrounding safety at Starehole Bay.

Speaking after the meeting, James Heaven said: 'Although disappointed about not seeing even a trial on Widegates, or even the Bar, which I thought was the only logical outcome, I did come away with a new appreciation of where some in the 'no' campaign are coming from.

'Although I had covered all the hard facts, I did not consider that some people, especially older people, have a romantic idea of Salcombe that is just as important to them as the physical environment.

'The idea that Salcombe has been Salcombe for many years, and will continue to be the same, long after we have all gone, is actually a very powerful idea. And even though I argued that in reality we would not have had any impact, for some we might have spoilt the idea of Salcombe. It made me think long and hard.

'There are still many outstanding issues that have yet to be resolved, not least the Bar and Starehole Bay which are crucial to the future of the town and 90 per cent of what we need. 'Leaving Widegates to one side, I hope people who might have been against Widegates but support improving provision on the harbour, will support the return of the Bar.'