A 70-year-old boat owner has attacked Dart harbour bosses amid claims that they are taking away his mooring to give the paddle steamer Kingswear Castle a new home.

Jim Bunting claims that harbourmaster Rob Giles has ignored the harbour board's own moorings policy by reclaiming his mooring on the Dart to hand it over to the Dartmouth Steam Railway and Riverboat Company for the old paddle steamer – which recently returned to the Dart after an absence of 50 years.

And he even claimed the coal-fired paddle steamer could end up moored close enough to the river fuel barge to literally spark off a 'catastrophe'.

'This is in total contradiction of both the letter and spirit of the published moorings policy,' he said in a letter to the Chronicle.

But harbourmaster Rob Giles was adamant that Dart Harbour is simply rationalising its berths for the benefit of all the river users.

He said: 'We understand the inconvenience this may cause, but we have to manage our berths efficiently to keep Dart Harbour efficient as a commercial and leisure port, while ensuring that people enjoy themselves on the river.'

But her return has sparked off the attack from Mr Bunting who said in his letter: 'Why am I upset with the harbourmaster? I am now 70 years old and have owned Great Gull for 30 years and lived on my current mooring for over 12 years.

'In that time I have had many satisfactory dealings with the harbour office and several harbourmasters have come and gone.

'Also during my time the harbour authority has achieved many things, probably the most important being the development of the harbour moorings policy document. Designed to avoid the conflicts that previously marred quiet enjoyment of the river for many, the policy sets out the individual rights and responsibilities of all river users.'

Mr Giles replied, saying: 'It is not our policy to deal with individual issues through the press. Dart Harbour uses the three main principles in the current moorings policy (2010-2015) to safely manage the harbour for the benefit and enjoyment of all river users. These are – one, the requirements of navigation; two the optimisation of use of the harbour; and three, the conservation and environmental enhancement of the Dart.

He said: 'These audits have revealed that greater optimisation of berths may be achieved in order to keep berth prices to a minimum for all river users, and for safety.

'As a result some berth holders were written to in October, giving them the maximum notice possible, that they would be offered a Dart Harbour berth in a different location for the following berthing year, commencing on April 1.

'In all cases an equivalent alternative berth has been offered to berth holders, as close to the original berth as possible.'