Going nowhere! No hope for sunken Wear boat
A capsized fishing boat looks set to stay in the River Wear after city bosses admitted there was no “legal duty” to remove it.
The wreckage of the Elegant II has been stuck in the river at Offerton Heugh, near Hylton Bridge, since 2017.
However, with the vessel posing no direct threat to water traffic, local authority chiefs have decided against taking action as they would be unlikely to claw back their costs.
“The vessel is not regarded as either a danger or a hazard to navigation and is unlikely to become so,” explained Graeme Miller, leader of Sunderland City Council.
“While statutory powers to remove wrecks do exist, these impose no legal duty to act.
“To comply with legal requirements and be able to seek recovery of costs, the port authority must form the view that the vessel is an obstruction or danger to the navigation of lifeboats, or be likely to become so, and this is not currently the case,” he went on to say.
Cllr Miller was speaking on Wednesday, March 24, at a meeting of the full city council.
This was the last meeting scheduled to be held before May’s local elections.
It was held by videolink and broadcast via YouTube.
The leader of the council made bis comments in response to a question from Alan Liddle, who has previously campaigned for the boat’s removal.
The vessel’s owner was reportedly informed about the situation in October 2017, when it was first reported, but it remains in situ.
City leaders and other authorities have previously been urged to remove the fishing boat over safety concerns, particularly fears for youngsters and others, who may be tempted to go exploring the wreck.
In June 2018 the Port of Sunderland said that the boat is the responsibility of the owner and poses no risk to other river traffic or marine pollution.
Elegant ll was discovered adrift in the Wear at North Hylton in October 2017.
Sunderland Coastguard team located the vessel close to the north bank at Nab End but with the arrival of the high tide it re-floated and then drifted to the south side at Offerton Heugh.