AN OUTSPOKEN councillor who upset an authority when he paid for a health and safety report into a Canvey paddling pool has been banned from talking to the Echo.

Colin Letchford, independent councillor for Canvey East, spent £1,367 of his own money hiring the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents to inspect the tidal pool at Concord Beach as he feared it wasn’t safe for children.

The report led to the pool being sealed off by Castle Point Council until it was deemed safe to reopen.

However, Mr Letchford has been told he can “no longer enjoy the luxury as a private individual to act or comment on the council’s actions without regard to the consequences”.

Mr Letchford said: “They are trying to prohibit my freedom of speech. To me, they’re stupid by doing this. If they’re trying to suspend me from the council, it’s going to cause more of a fuss.

“To my knowledge, three children were injured in the pool over a weekend and when you have a little girl with cuts to her legs saying ‘the rocks in the pool hurt me’, it makes my blood boil.”

An email to Mr Letchford referred to his recent comments to the Echo. It read: “I write to remind you you are a member of the council – you no longer enjoy the luxury as a private individual to act or comment on the council’s actions without regard to the consequences.

“Please refrain from further comments and actions regarding the council in relation to the paddling pool and your draft Rospa report until you have met Andrew Roby Smith, the council’s monitoring officer.”

The report found a catalogue of failings with the concrete-bottomed pool, but the council has labelled the report “fundamentally flawed” and commissioned its own by safety consultants, Quality Leisure Management.

The council said: “The pool was closed as a precautionary measure following receipt of a report commissioned from Rospa by councillor Letchford, who has no authority to act on behalf of the council.”

The QLM report said the pool could continue to operate, with residents asked to pay attention to signs warning about the slippery surface.

David Marchant, the council’s chief executive, said: “Councillor Letchford has been asked to refrain from further comments or actions regarding the council in relation to the paddling pool and the draft Rospa report until he receives guidance and advice on his role as an elected member of this council and the council’s overviewand scrutiny committee considers the circumstances relating to the pool.

“Any further public comment before this would be inadvisable.”