Tendring District Council's planning office has asked protest group Free the Quay to provide it with additional evidence against the fence.

After taking independent planning advice, this week we have sent the department new evidence. It makes a strong case for the fence requiring planning permission. This means the council can no longer sit on the fence: it must get involved.

...and is set to vote to have the fence removed

District Councillor for Lawford Sarah Candy will propose a special resolution at the Tendring District Council full meeting at Clacton Town Hall at 7pm on 15 October.

She will ask the council to stand by its Local Plan provision for the area to allow public mooring and access, and to oppose the fence and seek its removal.

The meeting will be attended by Free the Quay protestors.

Leader of Essex County Council meets Free the Quay

On the morning of Tuesday 14 October Lord Hanningfield, leader of ECC, will meet Free the Quay's Simon Bullimore to discuss what the Council can do to get the fence removed.

The Council's areas of responsibility include conservation issues, highways and the emergency services, which have already expressed their opposition to the fence.

Last month Lord Hanningfield told Cllr Sarah Candy and Cllr Carlo Guglielmi that funds from the Communitiy Initiative Funding programme could be used to provide a more acceptable replacement fence.