AS A boat owner and ex-member of the ski club and former yacht club vice commodore, who now keeps his yacht in Devon - due

AS A boat owner and ex-member of the ski club and former yacht club vice commodore, who now keeps his yacht in Devon - due to a lack of council support for the yacht club when it was evicted from Knightstone - and as someone with 35 years boating experience (and insured), I would like to comment on the new annual permit proposal.Dartmouth harbour issues a sticker each season, and day/week charges apply for visitors. This is easy and cost effective.In Weston I keep a rigid inflatable sports boat at home, using it in the bay a couple of times per season. Insurance is not a problem, lack of qualification to handle a boat is. Jet ski users seem ill disciplined, speeding inshore and in the harbour. No council controls exist on the water.I am appalled at the suggestion for the control of the slipway at Knightstone.Why doesn't North Somerset do as other councils do - produce insurance at an office, or the slip if you intend to man the gates, pay a small fee to cover the launching licence, produce the insurance policy, and issue a serial numbered sticker for the vessel.Bristol harbour has a launching fee that includes insurance for those who cannot produce a certificate.I would not re-join the ski club, and at £60 will launch at other sites, reducing Weston's parking income. It has already lost my marina, winter storage and chandlery income at Uphill.Clearly this is designed to remove jet skis from a slipway near the new Knightstone housing development, a slipway we boat owners worked for many years to get improved. Uphill boatyard's slipway will be busy on the odd Spring tide that reaches it. I will use Bristol and Burnham.Brian Youster - Via email