Marine and Ports officials are defending their decision to erect two shipping beacons which residents have slammed as "ugly" and "unnecessary".

Acting director Mike Dolding said the markers, placed at Cavello Bay in Somerset, were built in the middle of the bay and on rocks after his office received numerous requests from members of the marine community.

And he said the constructions were part of an overall plan to prepare the coast of the Great Sound for the introduction of the new fast ferries.

But resident Cornelia Young said she thought Marine and Ports should have put more thought into the design of the 15-foot tall beacons.

"One of them is right in front of my house which is why I'm so concerned, and it's so big and ugly. It's completely out of scale," she said.

Ms Young said she complained to Marine and Ports about the beacon when she saw construction first starting.

"I asked them why it had to be so ugly. One size doesn't really fit all, it seems. They said they needed it because of the new ferries. But no one's ever run into this point. It's not dangerous."

Ms Young said she was hoping Marine and Ports would look for an alternative to the beacons which might not be so unattractive.

Another resident, who asked not to named, said he thought Government should have consulted further with residents before putting the beacons up.

"I'm not going to complain because I know it won't do any good. This beacon just appeared one day and we knew nothing about it.

"It's ugly and it doesn't make sense that they would put things up here when there are so many other places they could do it."

He continued: "The courteous thing to do would be to see how people feel about something like that being put up. It shows lack of thought and consideration."

But Mr. Dolding said: "Our job is to try and respond to the needs of the marine community and that's what we were trying to do.

We've had requests from the Water Safety Council to put these in because if you're going from Watford Bridge to Somerset Bridge, that point can be very dark."

Mr. Dolding said the constructions were part of an overall effort to make the area safer for the fast ferries.

And he said he thought effort had been made to make the beacons "aesthetically pleasing," but effective at the same time.

"This is a safety issue and it has been around for years,'' he said. `'We had an opportunity to do it at a reasonable cost and to the benefit of the marine community."