Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info A number of pleasure boat operators in St Ives are furious after the town council introduced a new licensing policy to control them touting for business on the seafront. Skippers said their ticket sellers have been confronted by enforcement officers issuing fixed penalty notices of £100 a day with "threats to escalate to £1,000 and a criminal record". However, St Ives Town Council has defended its actions, saying the move was instigated following calls from businesses in the town and, particularly, the RNLI which was concerned about pleasure boat operators touting for business in front of the gate leading to the town's lifeboat, raising health and safety fears. The council also said the system makes it fairer - meaning there will be one booth per business, rather than one pitch per boat as a number of locals own more than one pleasure boat. There has been a furore over the weekend after St Ives Pleasure Boat Association posted its concerns on Facebook. It states: "In January we were hit with the news that the town council would remove touting from the gate on lifeboat corner, a tradition that has been running for decades and has been the backbone of many businesses over the years. With this crushing news there were lots of worried business owners wondering how we were going to operate this year. "The council came back with a map, with ten dots on it and said that these were the locations that they would allow booths to tout from and that any businesses that have any links between them - say the directors are the same - must share a booth, regardless if these businesses are completely separate limited companies. "Our members were obviously not happy with this, given the council had dished out individual business licences for the past five years, so we made a counter proposal. Accepting losing the gate to tout from was a big blow but we took the council's map and added five or so more dots on it for additional booths in reasonable locations to tout from. This was immediately shut town by our town council and we were basically told it’s their way or the highway. To sign up to the weekly Cornwall Politics newsletter click here. "These boats and businesses have been trading here for years and years and now the council want to shut us all down? We emailed back and forth for the next couple of months trying to offer the council solutions but they were sticking to their guns and not even giving us an inch." The post added: "As the eagerly awaited Easter holidays approached the once happy and excited mood was grim and we still had no answers. With this, our association emailed the town council informing them that we intended to start work and we would have to tout on the gate or wherever we previously traded for the past five years until they had found a solution. "We had enforcement officers stood in front of our ticket sellers issuing fixed penalty notices of £100 a day with threats to escalate to £1,000 and a criminal record. With our businesses and start to the season in tatters we walked to the Guildhall with all our staff and calmly tried to explain that all these young people are out of work in this beautiful weather because of the council. "We made a desperate plea for some temporary licences so we could work the Easter holidays and keep operating whilst the council found a resolution. We were met with a blatant NO and told that if we were caught trading we would be fined and they would take our touting desks away. This is now carrying into a second week of the Easter holidays and we have lost thousands already. Two boats have not even craned in due to the uncertainty. "To mention one in particular, the Seahorse has not been given a desk and the owners have been told it has to share a desk with other businesses. The Seahorse has been trading independently from the same position for over 50 years. We don’t know how this season will go now for us, and it may the last year for many of us." However, the town council has responded to CornwallLive, saying the situation is not quite how the association has described it. Its clerk Louise Dwelly said: "It's a system that's been in place for three years, we're extending it. We've just asked them not to trade on the gate, but to trade from a booth and have a licence. We sent them a map to choose a spot. "There's a maximum of ten individuals or families but between them they've got 18 boats, so their position is they should have a booth for every boat. We weren't happy with that as they don't need a booth for every boat." (Image: St Ives Pleasure Boat Association) The clerk said the post on Facebook implies that the town council is stopping the heritage pleasure boat trade. "We're not at all. They've all got licences, they're all trading this weekend. It's change - but the lifeboat gate is free and the RNLI are happy. The highway manager is happy because people aren't standing in the road. All we're trying to do is get businesses to have a booth, be identified and sell tickets in a professional way, but because it's never been done like that in St Ives they're furious about it. "Our councillors are very upset by the reaction online because they're volunteers - they're not paid like Cornwall councillors. They were just trying to do the right thing. It looks to the public like we've done something terrible, but all we've said is 'here's your licence, here's your terms and conditions, please can you trade from this spot?'." The council introduced a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) in the area around four years ago in a bid to make the touting more professional and regulated. A PSPO is a legal tool used by local authorities in England and Wales to address nuisances or problems in public spaces that are detrimental to the community's quality of life. It can lead to fines if not adhered to. However, the council decided there needed to be a more rigid process following complaints. The RNLI wrote to the council at the end of last year asking that the touts were removed from their gate due to health and safety concerns. Other businesses in the area had also complained. A new PSPO was consulted on and brought in with proper terms and conditions rather than a voluntary code, which had formerly been agreed by boat owners. There are two boatmen's associations operating in St Ives after the previous singular body split. The St Ives Pleasure Boat Association - which has spoken out about the new rules - and St Ives Boatsmen's Association, which the town council says has agreed to the changes. Mrs Dwelly says the town council's stance is backed by the harbour and the RNLI. Councillor Andrew Mitchell, the current Cornwall councillor whose division covers the harbour, responded to the post at the weekend. He wrote: "It was originally in response to the complaints the town council was receiving about all the A-frames on Wharf Road and touts being in the middle of the road and 'overly enthusiastically' approaching members of the public. "I need to point out for clarification that it was not the town council who wanted the touts moved from the gate, but an insistence from the lifeboat for health and safety and access reasons so I understand. No one at the town council wants any boat operators to go out of business. The pleasure boats and touts are part of the St Ives offer and experience, and I wish everyone of them a busy season."