Campaigners are planning to build a bunting 'bridge' across the mouth of the Dart to help highlight their battle to reopen a Kingswear beach.

The group is aiming to hold a picnic just off Lighthouse beach which they claim they are wrongly banned from setting foot on.

Then they hope to spread their boats out across the quarter mile width of the mouth of the Dart and briefly string up bunting from one side of the river to the other.

Campaign spokesman Mike Trevorrow said the event is aimed at highlighting the long running beach row – and the battle to raise cash to fund the legal costs of the public inquiry into the bid to have the beach designated as a village green which is due to take place later this year.

The campaigners have already raised some £10,000 in donations but they are aiming at a target of £20,000, said Mr Trevorrow.

Now he is appealing for as many people as possible to turn up in their boats for the picnic protest which is due to go ahead on Sunday.

'We want as many boats as possible from Dartmouth and Kingswear to assemble just off Lighthouse beach, to bring a picnic and musical instruments, if possible, and as much bunting as possible,' he said.

He is asking for the boats to assemble at 4pm so that after the picnic the boats can then spread out across the river to form a bunting link from shore to shore.

'We want to get as many boats as possible to form up between Dartmouth and Kingswear to make what is probably the first chain across the mouth of the Dart since the 17th century,' he said.

The row over public access to the beach 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 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 but the full hearing – expected to take at least four days – will start on November 13 at Kingswear Village Hall.