Campaigners were forced to abandon their plans to string a bunting 'bridge' across the mouth of the River Dart after the harbour authority stepped in at the last minute to warn them off.

The campaigners, who were staging the protest to highlight their battle to reopen Kingswear's Lighthouse beach, went ahead with their seaborne picnic and singsong some 40 yards off the controversial beach.

But the plans to position their boats across the mouth of the river and string bunting from one side to the other was scrapped after a letter from harbourmaster Rob Giles was sent to them by recorded delivery ordering them to axe the idea.

And the harbour board ordered out a launch to watch the small flotilla of campaigners to make sure the bunting bridge protest could not happen.

'I think he thought we were going to set up some form of blockade and cause a lot of disruption, said campaign spokesman and Kingswear parish councillor John Trevorrow.

'We were going to get a few boats across the river with the bunting for enough time to take a photograph. The harbourmaster absolutely forbade this from happening.'

In the end a total of 10 boats and around 23 people from Dartmouth and Dittisham took part in the protest event on Sunday afternoon.

For 90 minutes the campaigners positioned themselves some 40 yards off Lighthouse beach where they tucked into cream teas and sang songs.

'We had bunting up and it was quite a jolly event,' said Mr Trevorrow. 'The weather was lovely, the best weather we had had all week which was a bit of a miracle. It was very successful and good fun.

'It was the first time in 10 years that I had actually seen people on the beach. There were a couple there sunbathing and they had got there by boat.'

Deputy harbourmaster Nick Clarance said the campaigners had not contacted the harbour office to explain what they were doing – and the first the harbourmaster knew of the plans was when he read it in the Chronicle on Friday.

'The harbourmaster was concerned because we did not want any blockage or restriction on people entering or exiting the river,' he said.

He pointed out that the harbour board has statutory duty to ensure that nothing impedes the safe navigation of the river and that access to the port is kept open.

'We had somebody on the water just in case. I think it was a bit of a storm in a teacup,' he added.

The row over public access to Lighthouse beach in Kingswear has been going on for years.

It is due to reach boiling point in November this year with the opening of a public inquiry into the village parish council's application to have the beach designated as a village green with unlimited public access.

The footpath to the beach was fenced off as long ago as 1999 and there is even a sign on the beach warning people approaching by boat that it is closed.

The parish council believes the public has had access to the beach for some 100 years before it was closed and it has applied to have it designated as a village green so that it can be reopened.

The public inquiry has been called following objections to the designation from beach owner and Kingswear resident David Southwick.

A one-day pre-inquiry is due to take place on July 11 with the full hearing – expected to take at least four days – will start on November 13.

Originally the hearing was to have gone ahead at Follaton House in Totnes but the venue was changed earlier this year and it will now be taking place at Kingswear Village Hall.

Sunday's protest was also to highlight the fundraising campaign launched by the parish council to help pay for their legal representation at the inquiry.

The councils target is £20,000 and it is believed to be about halfway there.