Illegally moored boats moved from the Thames

[duesouth68]

Tales of the bank

Glad to see the EA working effectively in partnership with the Local Authorities and enforcing the laws and regulations the majority of us abide by.

I thought you would not be far away....... retired from flying have we

 

[duesouth68]

err ...just to clear things up a tiny bit ,the pictures attached to the MBM article show a load of dumb barges,commercial platforms and the like ?


I remember the piles being in the river back in the 50s and quite large vessels moored along the island site. i think the dumb barges were in position to lift the piles......what we want now is some squatters to take over the island opposite these 2k residential properties...who can afford that sort of property apart from bankers...........that could cause them a "great deal of distress"

 

[teddington_lock]

Not everyone who lives in a riverside flat / house is a banker or a horrible person.

I know plenty of people who live riverside , my father being one of them , and they are all great people.

Whilst the extreme minority seem not to mind a half sunken hulk covered with old tarps and bird **** , and view it perhaps as heritage , the vast majority view it as an eyesore , not just the 'rich bankers' . It's a shame they apparently had to throw their weight around to get it done , but if thats what it takes ....

No one is suggesting that they want to drive boats away from the river , but it shouldn't be used as a dumping ground for boats people have been given , won , claimed or whatever. I pay my licence , have a permanent mooring , have my insurance , and i am just a humbley paid lock keeper. Why can't they ?

Why would you want squatters to take over and cause people distress ? because they are 'richer' than you ? i don't get it ?

 

[duesouth68]

Tales of the river bank

Not everyone who lives in a riverside flat / house is a banker or a horrible person.
I am not suggesting they are..but ordinary folk have been priced off the river and the river should be all of us .........

 

[bigwow]

Please don’t upset these riverside dwellers too much. We don’t want them moving into the country to start complaining about the smell of farm animals and the sound of the village church bells.

 

[oldgit]

Chocolate Box World AKA The NIMBY Thames ?

" the vast majority view it as an eyesore , not just the 'rich bankers' . "
"Why would you want squatters to take over and cause people distress ? because they are 'richer' than you ? i don't get it ?"




And exactly what sort of "distress" would that be then ?

Blimming poor people clogging up ones waterway ...

Are there no workhouses are there no prisons ? Capt.E.Scrooge .Esq

 

[teddington_lock]

Please don’t upset these riverside dwellers too much. We don’t want them moving into the country to start complaining about the smell of farm animals and the sound of the village church bells.

Or moving into lock keepers houses that were sold alongside canals and invoking their 'right to peace and quiet' forcing the canal authority to come and chain the lock which the house is alongside shut at night

However would the unlicenced move around if the locks were chained at night ?

" the vast majority view it as an eyesore , not just the 'rich bankers' . "
"Why would you want squatters to take over and cause people distress ? because they are 'richer' than you ? i don't get it ?"




And exactly what sort of "distress" would that be then ?

Blimming poor people clogging up ones waterway ...

Are there no workhouses are there no prisons ? Capt.E.Scrooge .Esq

Not sure why you are quoting and attempting a dig at me ?

I was replying to duesouths post

 

[duesouth68]

Please don’t upset these riverside dwellers too much. We don’t want them moving into the country to start complaining about the smell of farm animals and the sound of the village church bells.

I think they are doing that anyway....

 

[oldgit]

Not sure why you are quoting and attempting a dig at me ?

I was replying to duesouths post [/QUOTE]

Sorry thought you were having a dig at me,as you can tell,not much on the tele tonite

 

[duesouth68]

Tales of the river bank

Or moving into lock keepers houses that were sold alongside canals and invoking their 'right to peace and quiet' forcing the canal authority to come and chain the lock which the house is alongside shut at night

However would the unlicenced move around if the locks were chained at night ?


That is exactly what i am talking about...were you a lock keeper in The Thames Conservancy days...there were a lot of ordinary folk on the river then because they could afford it ....but it is a money making business now

 

[teddington_lock]

Anyone can afford to get afloat , you don't have to buy a big plastic boat to get afloat.

You could get afloat for less than £500 , theres plenty of dinghies around and a yearly licence is under £100 for one.

Even in the TC days you paid to use the locks , and to moor. OK , it's more expensive now , but everything is relative.

I wasn't a lock keeper in the TC days , i'm EA through and through

 

[duesouth68]

Anyone can afford to get afloat , you don't have to buy a big plastic boat to get afloat.

You could get afloat for less than £500 , theres plenty of dinghies around and a yearly licence is under £100 for one.

Even in the TC days you paid to use the locks , and to moor. OK , it's more expensive now , but everything is relative.

You cannot take your family away for a weekend in a dinghy...my first TC licence was 7/6 pence .....the thing is if you even got a cheap 20 footer the time you have your mooring /marina fees licence safety ticket insurance in a couple of years you could have bought the vessel twice over...it does cost a lot more than it did..i could afford on my pocket money to run a small launch back in the 50s and my parents were not wealthy.......

 

[boatone]

....but it is a money making business now

Unfortunately it is not a money making business - unless you know something I don't?

There may be some businesses on the river which make money but 75% or so of the cost of maintaining and servicing the non-tidal Thames comes from public funds. The largest single source of income for the other 25% comes from licence fees, predominantly powered craft registrations.

There are those who seriously believe that folk like us, far from paying too much, do not actually pay enough for the service and recreational facilities we receive.

 

[ffiill]

When I visit my daughter in Chiswick/Brentford for me part of the character of the River and something that helps ground me is the variety of boats I see on the River or moored on its side.
Whilst some of the house boats moored above Kew Bridge probably pay a fortune for the privelege bet its still not much compared to my daughters £300,000 flat.
There are others who are probably squatting-so what!
There are lighters with mobile homes on them;an eastern European river patrol boat;in Richmond a Dutch Tjalk or similar;an old origional paddle steamer in Windsor etc etc.
Sorry but I find the sight of serious sea capable high speed power boats with radar etc cruising up past Richmond far more of an anathema!
People have lived on the river and worked on it probably since the end of the last ice age.
I find some of the twee houses along its banks far more disconcerting than a rusty old Thames lighter with someone down in the bilges working an arc welder or angle grinder.

 

[oldgit]

When I visit my daughter in Chiswick/Brentford for me part of the character of the River and something that helps ground me is the variety of boats I see on the River or moored on its side.
Whilst some of the house boats moored above Kew Bridge probably pay a fortune for the privelege bet its still not much compared to my daughters £300,000 flat.
There are others who are probably squatting-so what!
There are lighters with mobile homes on them;an eastern European river patrol boat;in Richmond a Dutch Tjalk or similar;an old origional paddle steamer in Windsor etc etc.
Sorry but I find the sight of serious sea capable high speed power boats with radar etc cruising up past Richmond far more of an anathema!
People have lived on the river and worked on it probably since the end of the last ice age.
I find some of the twee houses along its banks far more disconcerting than a rusty old Thames lighter with someone down in the bilges working an arc welder or angle grinder.

Spot on !
AKA. gentrification
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentrification
Somebody even know is possibly working on making a few quid via gated
"Marine communities for the visually frail and easily offended of the Thames"

 

[boatone]

Boats that have been moored illegally on the River Thames have been moved on by Windsor and Maidenhead Council with the help of the Environment Agency.

What exactly does that mean? Were the boats simply 'persuaded' to move elsewhere - in which case where are they now and have they simply become someone else's problem? Or maybe they have been seized by the EA and impounded because they did not have a current licence? I certainly doubt the latter, as I believe the first court case relating to an unlicensed craft under the new rules has yet to be heard.

There are two clearly separate issues involved here:
1. Is the craft displaying a current EA licence for its class and size?
2. Is the craft legally entitled to moor in a specific location?

If there is no current licence that is undoubtedly an EA matter to be pursued under the IWO and related legislation.
If the craft is illegally moored (whether licensed or not) that is a matter for the landowner to resolve - in this case, presumably, Windsor and Maidenhead council and probably a civil matter.
The EA and the landowner may well need to co-operate to identify and establish ownership before any action can be instigated but, as far as I can see, there is no question of either the EA or the local authority being able to combine the two separate issues.
If the craft is both legally licensed and moored then its appearance is , surely, irrelevant?

 

[boatone]

err ...just to clear things up a tiny bit ,the pictures attached to the MBM article show a load of dumb barges,commercial platforms and the like ?

The picture does indeed show , primarily, a riverworks barge moored on the town side of the island just above Maidenhead bridge. Presumably the newshounds need to be careful not to show pictures of boats which can be recognised in case they imply that the boat is not licensed which might not be the case.

I pass that way many times a year and don't consider the area to be anything like the eyesore suggested. Also the casual references to Boulters Lock I find unacceptable - there are no unsightly craft - licensed or not - within the environs of Boulters. The problem, if it really is a problem, is further downriver towards the bridge.

As for the introduction of the £8 charge for mooring alongside the road that is laughable - exposed, vulnerable, noisy, no facilities, who would want to pay £8 to moor there overnight? And will they actually police it and collect the money?

 

[Flying Penguin]

You don't get this do you i lived a grow up in Maidenhead as a small boy i lived for and on the river,and i have seen the river change and not for the better that stretch where these properties are were all boat yards ,with wooden skiffs and canadian canoes for hire and all the piles opposite were moorings for these yards..the river is boats ..these yards and the moorings had been there in the Skindles days at the turn of the 1900s....the whole of that area looks sterile

I get your position. It's really quite simple. The river is for us all no matter what and the historic rights of these river users outweigh any need for them to play by the (EA and local authority set) rules. And it winds you up even more as it appears that "rich" people are seen to benefit.

It's a bit of a Dale Farm situation really. If they were legally moored in the first place, this would never have arisen.

 

[duesouth68]

There be an element of the nation supporting inland waterways ....but are you suggesting the cost should fall on totally on the boat owner.

But back to the point i was making in front of these apartments in Maidenhead as far back as i remember there were moorings on the island side just upstream of Maidenhead bridge they have been there for at least 60 years i used to use these moorings when i was 14 years of age in the 50s ..the piles have been lifted i understand and was that to please the owners of these new riverside apartments .I worked in my school holidays for Emonys boat yard there was Bushnells and another yard beyond a cafe and chandlers and these mooring were used by them

 

[duesouth68]

When I visit my daughter in Chiswick/Brentford for me part of the character of the River and something that helps ground me is the variety of boats I see on the River or moored on its side.
Whilst some of the house boats moored above Kew Bridge probably pay a fortune for the privelege bet its still not much compared to my daughters £300,000 flat.
There are others who are probably squatting-so what!
There are lighters with mobile homes on them;an eastern European river patrol boat;in Richmond a Dutch Tjalk or similar;an old origional paddle steamer in Windsor etc etc.
Sorry but I find the sight of serious sea capable high speed power boats with radar etc cruising up past Richmond far more of an anathema!
People have lived on the river and worked on it probably since the end of the last ice age.
I find some of the twee houses along its banks far more disconcerting than a rusty old Thames lighter with someone down in the bilges working an arc welder or angle grinder.

I totally agree...