FOUR owners of boats which sank in Bath and had to be removed by the council have been served with a formal demand to cough up a collective £55,000.

Bath and North East Somerset Council raised the sunken boats from the Avon in May and towed them out of the city after warning they posed a hazard to others navigating the waterway.

Now it has begun formal proceedings to recover the costs of the operation from the owners of the boats.

The owners have been served with formal demands to either settle the amount they each owe in full or agree to a repayment plan. The council said that the owners had been repeatedly approached by the council about recovering the boats themselves but this had not been done.

Deputy council leader Sarah Warren said: “The removals have cost the council approximately £55,000 and we hope to avoid having to take legal action to recover the money.

“Boat owners are responsible for the maintenance and environmental impact of their vessels.

“These sunken boats had been creating a hazard in the waterway and posing a risk to its ecology for a long time, which is why we made every attempt to work with the owners over many months to arrange self-recovery before removing the boats ourselves as a last resort.”

Local homelessness charity Julian House criticised the council for its plan to recover the costs earlier this year, warning that it “victimises the most vulnerable.” But the council said it had been in touch with the owners to see if they needed support and none was needed.

The council said that the formal proceedings to recover the money would be carried out in line with the national protocol on pre-action debt and the council’s own debt policy.