A BOAT on Harwich beach used as a summer home has been removed after complaints and safety concerns.

Tendring Council put up eviction notices last month, telling the owner of the boat to take it away.

Graham Williams, known locally as Catweazle, was given 31 days to comply but the boat was still there two weeks after the notice expired.

Officers carefully checked that no-one was still there and also collected up all the various items that had been stored in and under the boat for safe keeping.

Both the boat and the belongings will be kept for a "reasonable" amount of time so that Mr Williams can reclaim them from the council.

Nick Turner, Tendring’s cabinet member for seafronts, said the council had not taken the decision lightly.

“The situation had been left for some time but then we received a number of complaints about the boat being lived in on the beach recently,” he said.

“There had been a change in local feeling, it was not felt that it was an appropriate place for someone to be living and there had been a couple of boat fires on that very beach.

“We offered Mr Williams the opportunity to come and discuss the matter and look into his various housing options but he failed to show and has not been in contact with us since.”

Action was initially taken to try to move Mr Williams on in 2012.

The council said a prioritised appointment with the council’s housing options team was organised but Mr Williams failed to turn up.

Mr Turner added that Harwich does not have a large stretch of beach and is popular with visitors during the summer - it was felt this was not a position that could be allowed to go on any longer.

“We have taken action to remove others living on the beach in other areas of the district and therefore we felt we had to be consistent in this case,” he said.

The beach will now be raked over and made ready for the coming season.