Parking

[Beadle]

Is there any reason why I cannot put down a mooring in a reasonably sheltered piece of sea for my own use?

Does anyone actually own the sea floor?

If they do can I buy a little bit of it?

Some years ago I had a tidal river mooring that I laid myself and no-one ever raised any objection.

 

[awol]

You have a choice - lay your own and wait for someone to complain or try and get permission. http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/coastal/moorings-and-marinas/working-with-us/moorings-law/ explains the law from the Crown Estates' point of view.
If it's an out of the way place I'd recommend the former - says the man who pays the Crown Estates every year.

 

[earlybird]

Someone does own the sea-bed around the UK. It is mostly the Crown Estates, but others in some parts.
They will not sell you a piece, but might allow a mooring upon payment of a rental. You will need to enquire.
An unauthorised mooring may be removed, possibly at your cost.
Sometimes, mooring associations organise an area.
Search these forums for more detail.

 

[Tranona]

You will find a more detailed explanation on the RYA website.

 

[oldharry]

1 Somebody definitely does own the seabed wherever it is within uk territorial waters. Usually this is Crown Estates, or a local Duchy or Estate, from whom you are supposed to get permission. Until very recently basically Crown estates, and other landowners didnt want to know, but the legislation changed in 2010, and now any private mooring which is not licensed under the FEPA 1956 regulations has no legal standing and can be removed by MMO or CE without warning. At present this would only happen if there was a conservation or obstruction issue, as both organisations have 'more important issues to deal with' under MCAA 2009.

2. If you have the owners permission you must obtain a licence to 'place a deposit or structure' on the seabed from Marine Management Organisation. This costs around £150, and includes an environmental impact assessment. When this legislation was first introduced the cost was around £5k. In my role as BORG spokesman I asked MMO if there was any 'fast track'procedure for private moorings. As a result, RYA immediately started negotiations with MMO to produce one at reasonable cost.

At present MMO is not unduly worried about private moorings, having 'higher priorities', unless they clash with a proposed MCZ like in Studland.

Full details of your rights and responsibilities here: http://boatownersresponse.org.uk/Private moorings.pdf RYA website has details too.

 

[earlybird]

I may be somewhat out of date, but I thought that, at least in Scottish waters, the CE pursue an active policy of removing unlicenced moorings.
I believe that they are charged with the duty of raising revenue from their assets, hence their interest.

 

[Ian_Edwards]

What about those of us who like to anchor?

I'd be concerned about owners putting moorings down in "reasonably sheltered places" without reference to some sort of management plan.

You may be occupying a spot which is used by cruising folk as an anchorage.

In many "reasonably sheltered places" on the West Coast of Scotland there are so many moorings, laid either with or without permission, it's virtually impossible to anchor for the night, and more mooring seem to appear each year. Some of these moorings remain unused year on year, and although I could pick one up for a night, I have no idea what holding the buoy to the seabed and what condition it's in.

So please spare a thought for others who might want to enjoy the cruising life and don't want to be forced into a marina every night.

 

[oldharry]

As I said, the situation changed with the new legislation in 2010, and CE more or less had to start taking an interest. If moorings were being removed before then it was almost certainly because there were issues or complaints about them. CE reckoned it would cost more to administer private mooring sites than any possible revenue from it. Bear in mind all they could charge would be ground rent, not rental for a fully serviced mooring. Down here in Chi harbour ground rent for a Privately owned semi drying mooring up to 28ft loa (i.e dries at LWS) is just £180 a year - for a Solent mooring! Rare as hens teeth!

 

[JumbleDuck]

I may be somewhat out of date, but I thought that, at least in Scottish waters, the CE pursue an active policy of removing unlicenced moorings.
I believe that they are charged with the duty of raising revenue from their assets, hence their interest.

The CE removed a whole bunch of abandoned moorings from where I keep my boat in Scotland last year. The Moorings Association collaborated cheerfully with that, because the abandoned ones were taking up a lot of room and keeping people who wanted moorings out. I still resent my £45 per year, a bit, but when the CE is proactive about doing useful things some of the sting is taken out of it.

 

[lw395]

It is also worth mentioning that insurers have opinions on what constitutes a reasonable place to moor a yacht.
Some moorings are not insurable, particularly in the winter.

 

[earlybird]

I'd be concerned about owners putting moorings down in "reasonably sheltered places" without reference to some sort of management plan.

You may be occupying a spot which is used by cruising folk as an anchorage.

In many "reasonably sheltered places" on the West Coast of Scotland there are so many moorings, laid either with or without permission, it's virtually impossible to anchor for the night, and more mooring seem to appear each year. Some of these moorings remain unused year on year, and although I could pick one up for a night, I have no idea what holding the buoy to the seabed and what condition it's in.

So please spare a thought for others who might want to enjoy the cruising life and don't want to be forced into a marina every night.

West Highland Anchoring & Mooring Assn. (WHAM), monitor and lobby against encroachment on traditional anchorages by moorings, fish-farms etc.
They liaise with CE and are effective AFAIK.

 

[Ian_Edwards]

I wasn't aware of WHAM, but they don't seem to be effective in many areas on the West Coast I sail in.

I could name a dozen of more anchorages which have abandoned mooring in them, or moored rafts the local creel boats use to store creels on. I've looked for the CE tag on some of the mooring without success, so I assume that they aren't licensed by CE.

My general feeling is that CE are happy to take the money, but very reluctant to spend any money policing remote areas.

 

[oldharry]

Do they know its an issue? They will not get involved in local mooring issues unless there is good reason to.

 

[Beadle]

I'd be concerned about owners putting moorings down in "reasonably sheltered places" without reference to some sort of management plan.

You may be occupying a spot which is used by cruising folk as an anchorage.

In many "reasonably sheltered places" on the West Coast of Scotland there are so many moorings, laid either with or without permission, it's virtually impossible to anchor for the night, and more mooring seem to appear each year. Some of these moorings remain unused year on year, and although I could pick one up for a night, I have no idea what holding the buoy to the seabed and what condition it's in.

So please spare a thought for others who might want to enjoy the cruising life and don't want to be forced into a marina every night.

If I intended doing that sort of thing I wouldn't have bothered to post on here.

I'm happy to pay a reasonable (or even half reasonable) fee to do the thing properly - its just that I didn't know what was proper.

So thanks to all for putting me on the right road.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I wasn't aware of WHAM, but they don't seem to be effective in many areas on the West Coast I sail in.

I could name a dozen of more anchorages which have abandoned mooring in them, or moored rafts the local creel boats use to store creels on. I've looked for the CE tag on some of the mooring without success, so I assume that they aren't licensed by CE.

My general feeling is that CE are happy to take the money, but very reluctant to spend any money policing remote areas.

Bull Hole at Fionnphort is now almost unusable at the north end thanks to a very large number of dubious looking moorings dotted around. I couldn't see a CE tag on any of them.

 

[Ian_Edwards]

I've used Bull hole three times this year and if I hadn't had a lifting keel, so I could get up to the shallow (and more exposed) north end it would have been difficult to find a spot to anchor. On each occasion very few of the "dubious looking moorings" had boats on them. This not the only place where there is a problem. For example the inner anchorage at Port Ramsay on the North end of Lismore is full of mooring most of which haven't been used for the last 6 years or so that I know of. The area is virtually unusable as an anchorage. And as I said before there are many more places like that.

I'm not getting at the original post, it's more the general principle of people putting moorings down without reference to any plan or consideration for other users, the shear useless nature of the Crown Estates who take money from people who try and work within the rules, the CE also argue that they are helping to control unauthorised moorings by having a licensing system and yet don't effectively policing the situation on the ground.

There is also an issue of people installing mooring and then abandoning them, I know this isn't easy, people get old or ill or move and removing a mooring isn't high on the addenda.

I don't want to get into the situation where people have to report every unauthorised mooring they find. I think the if the CE are going to charge, then there is moral duty for them to inforce.

I just feel that the situation is getting worse year by year, which I guess is predictable as we fill our home waters with more and more boats, all looking for a cheap mooring in a reasonable sheltered spot.

Rant over for now!