LOCALS living by an eye-catching marina are furious after they were slapped with a £10,000 bill for a new 7ft privacy fence.
Residents in Albion Mill in Worcester have been hit with the eye-watering fee to stop them helping house boat owners with their shopping.
Longboat users in the area will typically leave their shopping at metal railings on the opposite side of the pontoon where their vessels are moored to avoid an energy-sapping 20-minute walk.
They will then whisk around apartment blocks to Diglis Marina where they grab their weekly shop from patient locals.
Apartment bosses have now drafted plans to build a 7ft high privacy fence to stomp out the kind deed following a string of complaints.
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But seething residents say they are being punished for the motorhome owners' misdeeds.
"It is a significant cost, around £9,000 to £10,000, which is happening without any consultation with residents," local Jon Bodenham fumed.
"I am just absolutely livid that a few complaints can actually enact something like this without consulting a wider body of residents.
"Why? Because once or twice a week someone helps someone else by handing a bag of shopping or two across a fence.
"The boat owners are our friends and neighbours, but this is not very neighbourly."
Professional sound engineer Tony Wass, 67, also slammed the proposed fence and argued the move would leave boat owners reeling during an emergency.
He said: "At the moment, the fence means that if anyone on the boats had an emergency an ambulance or fire engine could get pretty close.
"If this fence goes up we'd be stuffed.
"If there was a fire here we'd be trapped here.
"The fire officer said to jump into the canal but I'm not going to do that at 67 and in freezing cold water in winter.
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"The shopping thing is an inconvenience.
"If we have to bring our shopping on the 1km route, it's ridiculous. It's a 15 minute walk.
"The new route goes over very wide locks which are quite dangerous and you can fall into them in winter.
"To think we could be trapped here in an emergency is frightening.
"We never thought the fence was an issue. The thing about trespassing is ridiculous. This land is open to the public.
"We often have people walking up to the fence line to look at the boats.
"It's the only way we could get deliveries to us because there's no access."
First Port, the company which manages the converted apartment building, alleged that boat owners are trespassing.
A spokesperson said: "Climbing over the fence as an access point to and from the canal presents a significant safety concern and is likely to cause extensive damage.
"Previously, there has been damage around the fence which has had to be rectified at a cost to the residents of Albion Mill."
