Sir,

You may not be aware that after many years of providing a service as a licensing authority on behalf of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) for small vessels in commercial use for sport or pleasure, Pembrokeshire County Council has, without consultation with the licence holders, unilaterally decided to withdraw this service with effect from January 1, 2011, and has cancelled those licences with immediate effect.

Effectively, the council has pulled the rug from under many small boat operators in the Pembrokeshire area. (I have been informed by the MCA that this affects approximately 24 local vessels).

Only last Friday, the Tenby Observer's front page quoted the leader of PCC, Clr. John Davies, as saying that they will be increasing Council Tax this year "which will ensure security of council services and maintain the jobs needed to deliver them." What a blatant lie!

Equally galling is that the Government has recently been expounding on how much they are doing to help personnel leaving the Armed Forces and also to help small businesses. I served for more than 28 years in the Royal Navy and just over two years ago returned to Tenby where I spent my first nine years and where my father was a well-known and respected Coastguard.

At considerable personal expense and effort, I complied with all the requirements of both the county council and the MCA to licence my boat to carry up to five passengers for fishing in the seas off South Pembrokeshire. Despite fully complying with the requisite Codes of Practice and having a licence issued by the county council that was valid until August 2013, the council now state that this licence is cancelled. There has been no offer made to refund the fees I have paid to them.

In their particularly blunt letter they have helpfully included a list of other authorities that I can now approach to obtain a licence; what they don't mention is the usually extortionate fees that these other organisations charge and that the nearest one is based in Hampshire!

After considerable chasing, Mrs. Sarah Oliver, the PCC head of licensing, stated that the reasons for the council's decision were that they had recently been subjected to an MCA audit and due to 'austerity measures', the service was being withdrawn because it was not a 'statutory function'.

I wonder how many other services will now also be withdrawn under the guise of being 'non-statutory'?

Dai Kent,

Commander Royal Navy,

Owner, MV Illusion,

Tenby.