planning permission for live aboard boat.

[jacmac1951]

Hi I am new to boating.
I have found a piece of land on the river Crouch in Essex it is greenbelt, so I cannot get permission to put even a touring caravan there; I have asked.
I have been looking for a piece of land adjacent to a river to moor a livaboard and this seemed heaven sent.
However !!
I am now told that I need planning permission from the local council (Rochford), because I would be resident there, all be it on the water not the land.
I have applied to the harbour authority for a license; they said nothing about planning consent
I have applied to the owner of the river bed, yes apparently there is a private individual who owns it!
Not sure who owns the water !
I am beating my head against a brick wall.
Any ideas how I can overcome this bureaucracy?
many thanks
Meg

 

[V1701]

Welcome to the forum...

In a nutshell, if you don't put your head above the parapet you won't get shot! In the UK you can't do anything without permission/planning/informing & most importantly of course paying but even if you're able & prepared to do all that it's still very difficult to impossible to do anything like what you describe totally above board. There are loads of us who live full time in marinas when the majority of marina contracts specifically do not allow this. Being quiet, friendly, respectful of others & not making it obvious go a very long way. Depending on your situation you can become an asset to where you live by keeping an eye on others' boats/property/whatever, doing an occasional rubbish clear or something. Good luck & go for it, there's always a way...

 

[Tranona]

Welcome to the forum.

Every bit of land and water is owned by somebody and there is no way that you can just park your boat there. As V1701 says many people live on boats and there are specific residential moorings you can rent, or as he suggested you can rent a non residential mooring and quietly live there on a boat, or you can moor on a rented mooring in a river. However residential berths, for obvious reasons are very scarce and commercial marinas anywhere near centres of population are expensive, so living on a boat is not necessarily cheap, nor is it always compatible with work and social life.

The particular situation you describe is not so common, but ownership of river bank does not necessarily come with mooring rights or access to the river. Equally ownership of the river bed does not automatically have rights to mooring or navigation. Harbour authorities have specific remits to control and manage their designated harbour and this may mean requiring a licence to moor a boat there, even if the mooring is owned or rented by somebody else. it is not permission to live on a boat, but the way revenue is raised to manage the resource. As you have discovered to get permission for a residential site will require planning permission and there is no way you would get that in the green belt.

So, on the information you have given you are indeed bashing your head against a brick wall and there is no point in continuing to bash it as it can only hurt more!

 

[Bru]

When you day you've applied to the Harbour Authority for a licence, are you referring to paying harbour dues or something more?

Because you've only encountered the tip of the bueaurocratic iceberg so far

To lay a mooring you will need a permit from the Crouch Harbour Authority. To do any other works on the river bed or bank you will need a licence from the Marine Management Organisation

And as you've already discovered you'll need planning permission

 

[[159032]]

This seems to be a problem amongst live-aboards.
I have been considering this for some time, but everything I read points to various authorities specifically targetting residential use of boats.
Is it a lost cause in the UK?

 

[Tranona]

This seems to be a problem amongst live-aboards.
I have been considering this for some time, but everything I read points to various authorities specifically targetting residential use of boats.
Is it a lost cause in the UK?

No. There are many people who live quite legally on boats in the UK. Just that many more might like to, so are tempted do do it illegally. Opportunities for legal for legal berths are scarce, so many people live on the margins of legality and some try to cross the boundary.

 

[usernamenotvalid]

Buy the land. Park the boat on the land beside the river. Document this location, gps, photographs etc. Dig a hole around your boat. Fill it with water. Remove the inbetweeny bit when no one is watching. Erosion happens! :encouragement:
Well that's what I would be tempted to do.

ok on second thoughts dig the hole first, then put the boat in...

 

[nathanlee]

This seems to be a problem amongst live-aboards.
I have been considering this for some time, but everything I read points to various authorities specifically targetting residential use of boats.
Is it a lost cause in the UK?

In the UK, unless you're being a good serf and sending that taxed money to the overlords and living exactly in the prescribed way, you'll have a hard time. Government really does not like people living anywhere but houses, so I'd honestly give up on trying to do it above board and go stealth. If you try to get "permission" to live as you wish, then you'll draw attention to your plans and have a hard time. Best just do it on the quiet, I'd suggest, though I'm not sure the Crouch is the best river to get away with it as it's so busy.

 

[[159032]]

I seem to have replies on both sides of the coin.
Really, I wouldn't want to have to keep moving on, but it sounds as though getting a genuine residential mooring is an expensive route to follow. Possibly not ending up where you want, and having a lifestyle that doesn't match up to that of a land-locked home-occupier, but at greater cost. Is that about right?

 

[Tranona]

I seem to have replies on both sides of the coin.
Really, I wouldn't want to have to keep moving on, but it sounds as though getting a genuine residential mooring is an expensive route to follow. Possibly not ending up where you want, and having a lifestyle that doesn't match up to that of a land-locked home-occupier, but at greater cost. Is that about right?

Some truth in that, particularly if you want to live in a densely populated area and have all the infrastructure benefits of a land based residence. Even then, you will not have the same rights that tenants normally enjoy as contracts are usually on no more than an annual basis and longer leases rare. However that does not mean that living on a boat with some degree of stability is not possible. You just have to recognise the limitations and assess whether you can fit within them. A semi nomadic life is perhaps easier now as it is possible if you have the right kind of skills to earn a living without being tied to a particular location or routine.

 

[Bru]

Buy the land. Park the boat on the land beside the river. Document this location, gps, photographs etc. Dig a hole around your boat. Fill it with water. Remove the inbetweeny bit when no one is watching. Erosion happens! :encouragement:
Well that's what I would be tempted to do.

ok on second thoughts dig the hole first, then put the boat in...

I've known people who've done pretty well exactly what you suggest and it's ended in bitter tears when the authorities caught up with them

Like it or lump it, you need planning permission for a residential mooring (and a lot more besides) and flouting the law rarely ends happily

And on a tidal river such as the Crouch, any installation such as a pile or jetty will also need a licence from the MMO which will not be easy to get. Or cheap. Or quick. Likewise a breach in the sea wall which would also come to the attention of the Environment Agency

Sometimes in life you have to accept that The Man has you over a barrel

 

[[159032]]

This seems to be the problem. The man in the street (on the water) doesn't have access easily to all the regulations which may possibly apply. But the authorities do have the access and knowledge.
It looks very easy to get tripped-up.
Even harbours or inland marinas may be operating at the fringes of the regulations. Just because the yard manager says its's OK, doesn't necessarily make it so.