A HARBOURSIDE canoe club has reassured residents over its plans to lease an area of land in Hamworthy for a new boat store.

Poole Harbour Canoe Club has been promised a £50,000 grant from Sport England as part of the Olympic legacy if the scheme goes ahead near Lake Pier.

The club is matching the money with funds raised by members.

Club spokeswoman Sally Crawford stressed that the community club offered healthy organised activity for all ages and the disabled and pleaded for the proposal not to be defeated by misunderstandings.

“The hut will not be sited on the car park. The proposal is for the replacement hut to be placed on a small piece of land at the rear of the car park, which the club cleared under licence from Poole Council and in consultation with Natural England and local residents groups.”

She claimed that the land had been primarily used for fly-tipping, and that the club had paid for its removal.

“The club will not have any exclusivity over the beach or any other area, other than the hut and the area immediately in front, which will be covered by the proposed lease.”

She added: “The public will be able to go on using all the facilities and the area as they have done.”

She also said the club had an ecology survey done and that any further work would be carried out in consultation with Dorset County Council’s ecologist and Natural England.

“Once the new boat house is ready to move into, the club will remove the existing hut and container, including the foundations, enabling this part of the SSSI (site of special scientific interest) to go back to its natural form,” she said.

As reported by the Echo last week, campaigner Eddie Groves has collected more than 500 letters objecting to the scheme.