A FAMOUS Suffolk beauty spot will look a little different from next week when work begins to clear away rotting hulks abandoned on its foreshore.Pin Mill, on the banks of the River Orwell is a popular destination for yachtspeople, artists and walkers as well as being the centre of a working and residential community.

A FAMOUS Suffolk beauty spot will look a little different from next week when work begins to clear away rotting hulks abandoned on its foreshore.

Pin Mill, on the banks of the River Orwell is a popular destination for yachtspeople, artists and walkers as well as being the centre of a working and residential community.

It is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is a designated conservation area.

But for several years a task group led by Babergh District Council has been working hard to get wrecks dumped near the hard standing, the concrete area leading to the waterside and known locally as "the Hard", cleared away.

The wrecks have been left to rot, creating both an eyesore and a danger to shipping.

The task group includes representatives from Babergh, Chelmondiston parish council, Suffolk County Council, the Pin Mill Hard committee, Pin Mill Preservation Society, the National Trust, the Environment Agency and local houseboat owners.

It persuaded Babergh's council last year to include £50,000 in the 2003-04 budget as a contribution towards clearing away the wrecks.

Now, said a Babergh spokesman, further funding has been secured from a number of other sources and a company has been contracted to establish the best method of breaking up the wrecks from the landward side.

This will involve using an excavator fitted with tracks and a number of lorries to cart away the debris.

The work will start at low tide on Monday at about 1pm, when the barge, the Maid of Connaught, is expected to be the first to be broken up.

District councillor Bryn Hurren, chairman of the Pin Mill task group, will launch the effort, striking the first blow to break up the first wreck.

He said: "We are delighted everybody's hard work and enthusiasm is being rewarded by this positive action. This shows that partnership working gets results."

He added that resources would also be put into improving the condition of the Hard and that the task group would continue to make further improvements to the area in consultation with the residents.

But the task group has also recognised that the area by the Hard particularly is a working area with two boatyards providing local employment.

Last year Jake Cleyndert, chairman of the Hard committee, said his group was not interested in prettifying the area, although it did want to see the wreckage cleared away.

He explained that the Hard's purpose was to allow people to get down to the water and at times because of the wrecks the boatyards had difficulty getting their trailers down there.