Enforcement activity

[boatone]

The following has been received from the EA outlining recent enforcement activity in the Teddington/Kingston/Molesey areas:

On Friday 20th May. We checked the 2016 registration status of 57 boats moored to the towpath, and issued 41 registration enforcement notices. 6 of those were conducted under caution to the owners we found onboard. 35 were left attached to unoccupied boats. We issued 8 notices for removal of an abandoned, sunken or stranded boat, and 7 waste warning/advice notices in respect of property or items left on the bank.

On Tuesday 24 May, we issued 3 registration enforcement notices to owners, under caution. We also interviewed a suspected offender under caution, regarding the use of 3 boats they own which do not have valid boat safety certificates. We removed 5 illegal structures (scaffold poles) from the recently vacated illegal moorings above Teddington Lock. We spoke to the owner of an illegally moored boat at Teddington lock and the boat has now moved. We tracked and found ‎a boat which left Teddington lock without paying mooring fees of £238 accrued at the lock. We left a notice instructing the owner to pay the fees at either Molesey or Teddington lock before leaving the reach. The owner subsequently paid the fees to a duty lock keeper at Molesey Lock.

On Wednesday 25th May, the final remaining boat belonging to one of the 11 named defendants, that had been issued a consent order by Kingston County Court, in respect of our ongoing possession enforcement action, departed the illegal moorings adjacent to the Teddington Towpath. This just leaves one defendant who we anticipate will be at the final hearing at Kingston County Court on 21 July.

 

[Actionmat]

Good to hear that something is being done, but how long will it last?

The big one is next month. If The slum landlord Trotman wins, there'll be a knock on effect everywhere. I wonder how much he's cost in legal aid and actions brought by the EA?

 

[Chris_d]

This is all good that the EA are doing this, but think it should every week and not once a year.

 

[Phill]

This is all good that the EA are doing this, but think it should every week and not once a year.

and to the rest of the river too.

 

[boatone]

A little enlightenment may be called for ......
The Environment Agency are not responsible for illegal mooring or trespass on other peoples land, be it local authority or privately owned. They are responsible for ensuring that boats on the waterway have a current registration which includes the requirements for BSS and insurance.
In most cases, these craft are moored on land which is not under EA jurisdiction and it is for the landowner to take steps to move them on. In some of the cases mentioned there have been joint exercises between the EA, local authority and Police particularly in the Teddington and Kingston stretches.
Legal process can be interminably slow - especially if there is difficulty identifying the owners of both boats and land. However unreasonable someones behaviour the EA have to go through the process.
The cost is considerable and, with funding being so tight, every case has to be considered carefully. Why should the EA commit resources (contributed to by our licence fees) to evicting boats moored on private land? The EA have less than 10 staff to cover enforcement the length of the river and there need to be two officers together at any time. They also have to prepare the paperwork and case information as well as being active on the river.
Where boats have been successfully moved on they simply turn up somewhere else and the whole process starts all over again.