Angry chalet owners have staged a protest in a bid to save their historic holiday homes.

The case is heading for the European Court on Human Rights but another show of defiance took place at the weekend.

Twenty five chalets at Coopers Beach at East Mersea are facing demolition at the end of next month to make way for more holiday caravans on the site.

Save our chalets - owners were out in force to protest against demolition of holiday homes on Coopers Beach, East Mersea. Picture: ROB SAMBROOK

Chalet owners are determined to stay and gathered in force on Saturday to voice their opposition to the plan.

"What we are trying to do is point out that we have the right to stay here," said Coopers Beach Chalet Society chairman James Archard.

"These chalets go back 70 years and have been handed down through the years but they want us off the site and say we'll have to pay the demolition costs," he added.

Owners gathered on the seafront to stage their protest while banners and balloons hung from their wooden homes.

Owners claim they will have to pay £3,000 each to see their homes bulldozed.

Site owners Great British Holiday Parks say the chalets must be removed by the end of November.

According to the company, all the owners signed up to this plan three years ago and the firm was doing nothing that had not been agreed on both sides.

Published Monday October 21, 2002

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