River Medway. Cuxton and Tovil. At last.

[oldgit]

Having finally stopped the unsightly erection of a shanty town on a site sold for "leisure plots" at Cuxton on the banks of the Medway, another eruption of sprawl started to appear at Tovil about a mile or two above Maidstone.The same culprit was responsible for buying the land, dividing it up into little plots then selling it on.
Eventually the local council caught on to what was going on at Cuxton and put stop to it.
Unfortunately many of the shore structures are still in evidence. along with a few abandoned half submerged wrecks.

At Tovil, the development was worse with a couple of livaboard barges permanently moored, the owner of one particular vessel cultivating a large chunk of the the river bank with a vegetable garden and erecting fences, in what was once a very pictureque and isolated bit of the navigation.
Scaffolding was driven into the ground for mooring stages.
Only access was down a very narrow pedestrian tunnel and a 4 x 4 vehicle was frequently parked near the barge.

Finally somebody has got their act together and a Direction under Article 4 has been declared regarding the riverside near Unicumes Lane.
Basically no planning permission for erection of any fences/gates/walls, enclosures and other structures.

file:///C:/Users/ONESTO~1/AppData/Local/Temp/1759738-2.pdf

 

[Actionmat]

I thought you were all for static liveaboards as a solution to the housing situation? Or is that only in my back yard?

 

[oldgit]

I thought you were all for static liveaboards as a solution to the housing situation? Or is that only in my back yard?

...most certainly there should be available long term moorings offered, by either private or public authorities, to those who wish to live afloat for whatever reason.
Power and waste disposal would be provided along with security of tenure. Suspect that folks from all levels of society might well take advantage if the opportunity arose.
The mere fact that some suitable sites are going to arouse the instant ire of the OPT (Objection Petition Tendency) will cause problems.
No problem if you want to livaboard. Several "less than pictureresque" semi derelict ex industrial) sites here on the Medway around Cuxton and Halling which could be redeveloped into planned and managed mooring areas which probably actually visually improve the landscape.

The real challenge will be the strong demand around the pretty bits of river surrounded by genteel Cookham ? residents with clipboards who spend time sitting in the village hall on Parish council nights shaking their heads. ?
We have several "land grab" sites locally which have grown unobserved like topsy.
Basically you move in on an old industrial site with your caravan chop down the local vegetation and erect a " shed" or four , then joined by a couple of your mates. Somehow you get connected to the services and you hunker down.
Other folks see what is going on and decide to give it ago.

After a decade or two, the settlements due to natural expansion, start to become very very visible to the outside world.
Now whats to local council going to do
Suggestions welcome ?

 

[Flynnbarr]

To the tune of "She'll be coming round the mountain"........altogether now......"OG is a nimby and it shows singing OG is nimby and it shows".......

 

[oldgit]

To the tune of "She'll be coming round the mountain"........altogether now......"OG is a imby and it shows singing OG is imby and it shows"......

Fixed that for you.... too many "n"s, my suggested sites for planned regulated moorings would be in my backyard .
Just not anywhere handy when a livaboard has no other option at all.

Would certainly help to solve the problem on the Thames if somebody provided moorings with power and waste disposal as opposed to lot of hand wringing and perpetually moving the problem to the next local council. ?
It would keep the petition folks busy for while at least. ?