Maldon district councillors have voted to allow a mobile home to remain at Burnham Yacht Harbour on a temporary basis for site security and safety reasons – despite council officers recommending otherwise.

The yacht harbour had applied for planning approval to allow one of two mobile homes brought onto the site in Foundry Lane, Burnham-on-Crouch, to remain there for 18 months, having agreed to remove the other.

Officers had recommended that councillors rejected the application – so allowing enforcement of the remaining home's removal.

However, the decision to let the mobile home stay was made last night (Wednesday, 14 April) after councillors heard from harbour director Richard Lingard that the decision to bring the temporary structures onto the harbour's yard after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic last year was made because security and safety issues emerged.

The yacht harbour director explained why the mobile home was needed at the site for now

He told how the harbour masters, who in normal times work from 9am to 5pm each day, are "all aged 60 to 75" and decided they could not work from their offices and facilities if these were being used by the external security staff who provide overnight cover, for fear of putting themselves at danger of infection.

In addition, the closure of the harbour's restaurant meant that other staff who would usually be on site were not.

Mr Lingard told the meeting of Maldon District Council's (MDC) South Eastern Area Planning Committee that reasons why the home needs to stay for the time being include:

• there are 350 leisure and commercial boats at the site

• there are two RNLI lifeboats and two Crouch Authority boats within the marina and these require access 24 hours, seven days a week

• there are clinically vulnerable boat owners staying on their vessels to avoid becoming infected by other family members at home

• there are frontline and key workers staying on their boats to avoid potentially infecting other members of their usual households

• that staff are needed on the site round the clock in case of emergencies including hydraulic gate failure, power cuts, oil spills and emergency services needing to locate someone.

Mr Lingard added: "I have been director at the yacht harbour for 15 years and we have never had an issue with Maldon District Council until the Covid-19 pandemic.

"This is absolutely a temporary measure."

He told how the application had the backing of the RNLI, the Crouch Authority and Burnham-on-Crouch Town Council.

Councillors decide to back the yacht harbour's plan

MDC's Chief Planning Officer, Matt Leigh, told the meeting that there had not been a clear argument as to why the mobile home was needed and that councillors should be mindful of "previous decisions" – as allowing mobile homes for security reasons is not usual practice.

Reasons for officers recommending refusal included:

• the site is outside the town's settlement boundary, situated north of an established marina
• the applicant's argument for the mobile home is not adequate, as the security staff could be lodged close by in existing accommodation
• the amenity space for any future occupants of the mobile home is not satisfactory as it is situated in a storage yard.

However, following a brief debate, members of the committee voted three to two to reject the officers' recommendations and allow the mobile home to remain in the harbour's storage yard area for up to 18 months.