A row has broken out after "scruffy" boat owners were ordered to leave a famous weir.
The vessels are moored near the famous Pulteney Weir in Bath with some available as a holiday let.
But the local council has ordered them out saying they are dangerous, unsafe and branding them a ''hazard''.
Bath & North East Somerset Council say it is ''taking action to keep people safe by addressing unauthorised and dangerous mooring locations''.
But boat owners and dwellers say they are not unsafe. They believe they are being kicked out because they are ''scruffy''.
They believe they are being moved on because of plans to build a new Bath Rugby stadium to replace the old one next to the weir.
One boat owner Ted, 54, said: ''There’s not a health and safety issue - they’re just using that against us.
''It’s all about the rugby ground, getting rid of the boats and trees.
''They’re going to move us by September, they’re going to put us somewhere else.
''They’re not being kind, they’ll use force. I’ve been a boater for years, I’ve been moved before.
''No one owns this stretch, the council don’t. It’s not about health and safety, it’s about the rugby ground, and because the boats look a bit dirty and scruffy.''
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Another said: ''They want to send us to the canal but there are no residential moorings on the canal.
''Normally stuff like this is all smoke and mirrors. It’s about the development of the rugby ground.
''If it’s about flooding they should’ve put pontoons in. It’s completely safe when it floods.
''All down the river they’ve got pontoons but not here.
''The amount of money they are going to spend in legal action and evicting us, I’ve heard it’s £1.5m but they don’t have a leg to stand on.
''It would be better, and more efficiently, spent on just making it safer, if that’s the reason they want us to leave.
''We won’t leave. We’ll put in a planning application to manage it ourselves, manage the mooring, holiday boats, residential boats, tours.''
Percy Walton, 67, who has lived on his boat there for four years, said: ''The letter came out of nowhere, it’s awful.
''There are no other moorings on the Avon so where are they proposing to move everything?
''I’ve been here four years and there’ve been no health and safety issues at all. They just want us to go because we’re scruffy.
''These trees here are famous, people come from all over the world to see them and they can’t even tell me which will be chopped down and which will not be.
''We live here, we’re part of the community, we contribute to it. They’ve not given us another place to go.
''I think it’s not health and safety, it’s politically motivated. There’s talk of the rugby ground, of a cafe here, it’s dodgy.
''They told us we had to go by September, and they would help us if they could.
''It is illegal, that there's no health and safety issues.”
Councillor Sarah Warren, deputy leader and cabinet member for sustainability at B&NES, said: “Boats moored in the Pulteney stretch are in danger from the high risk of flooding, particularly during periods of severe winter weather.
''This could put lives at risk. We want everyone in B&NES to have a safe place to call home and prevent all our residents from coming to harm.
“We are also concerned about the risk of serious injury in instances where gangplanks are being used on benches, and boats are being moored to grab lines, which prevents those lines from being used as essential lifesaving equipment.
“By working with boat owners and the Canal & River Trust to help residents move to a safe location, we’re taking action to prevent accidents and protect everyone’s wellbeing.
''As a last resort, we will take legal action if vessels remain in place beyond the date we have asked them to leave.”
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