Shellshock over threat to oysters

A HISTORIC oyster company is under threat after council planning officials ordered it to remove its oyster trestles from a beach.

Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company has been farming the Royal Whitstable Native Oyster in Kent since it was founded in 1793.

In its 1850s heyday the company sent 80 million oysters a year to Billingsgate Fish Market, with oysters regarded as the food of the Victorian poor.

But Canterbury City Council decided planning permission was needed after a 10-fold rise in the number of trestles, frames on which the shellfish are grown, led to complaints.

The company has now been given two months to remove its trestles, bags and buoys from Whitstable Beach.

WOFC’s James Green said: “This will result in the end of oyster farming in Whitstable, a practice that has taken place since time immemorial and defines the town.”

A council spokesman said the company had yet to apply for planning permission, adding: “A future application for retrospective planning permission to retain the trestles would be fully considered.”