The £2.1 million Destination Lydney Harbour project, funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Coastal Community Fund and devised by Lydney Coastal Community Team (LCCT), was intended to improve the transport routes into Lydney Harbour and develop the area as a recreation and tourism destination.

But the leading news in our local press and BBC Points West last week were the closure of the piers at Lydney Harbour and the ugly metal fences which have cut off access to part of the historic local site. Areas used by visitors and locals harmlessly over many years has suddenly turned into a lethal area people need protection from.

My wife and I are regular visitors to this important local amenity, and we were horrified to learn of the installation of barriers to access to an important areas of the site and the intrusive barriers which degrade the glorious estuary views up and down the Severn.

There appear to be several quangos involved in the Harbour project, including the different agencies: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (now known as the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities), the Coastal Community Fund, the Lydney Coastal Community Team (LCCT) and the Environment Agency.

The quango logic appears to be:

- Identify the need to improve the visitor experience at the Harbour and to encourage visitors

- To carry out appropriate works

- To note that the increase in visitors

n To degrade the visitor experience because of dreaded ‘Health and Safety’ concerns due to the increase in footfall which was the purpose of the project. An area that has been visited harmlessly over many years has suddenly turned into a lethal area that visitors need protection from.

There seems to be a certain lack of planning and consistency in this sequence of actions, and there appears to have been no public consultation by the Environment Agency, who have angered visitors to the site and do not emerge from this unsatisfactory situation with any credit. Poor publicity and poor consultation, as well as the construction of deeply insensitive barriers characterise the Environmental Agency’s role in this harbour development.

However, I have to say that a visit to Lydney Harbour is still well worthwhile. Car parking facilities appear to have been reduced, but the well-stocked café with its friendly staff is a great addition to the Lydney Harbour experience. With your back to the intrusive ugly ironmongery imposed on the site you can still enjoy your visit.

Most of the site has not been affected, and the glorious views of the mighty Severn estuary are still intact from most areas of the site, the sandy banks of the river are still filled with birds, the walking track beside the river are still there unobscured, and you can still walk along the wide meadows at ‘New Grounds’ to Aylburton undisturbed by metal barriers.