Moorings Boat dwellers face loss of key location
BATH’S houseboat community is likely to lose a prized mooring spot near the city – despite expert advice to keep it open and a warning of a lack of alternative locations.
Bath and North East Somerset Council bosses will vote next week on removing short term moorings at Mead Lane, Saltford, at the start of November.
Longer stay spaces which are popular with live-aboard boaters will be taken away when new sites are found, if the proposals are voted through.
The plans follow years of escalating tensions between people living on and off the water, with boaters accused of damaging the 350m stretch of riverbank.
A council-commissioned survey by consultants Atkins this month found “no indication that mooring is adversely affecting bank stability”.
It also suggested it was unlikely anywhere else on the River Avon is as suitable for mooring.
Despite Atkins’ recommendations to keep the moorings and employ a river warden to manage them, cabinet members will be asked to agree to a “long-term aspiration” to relocate the moorings from Mead Lane.
They were introduced on a trial basis in 2016 with few controls in what opponents called a “failed experiment”.
Around a third of the moorings are for stays of up to 48 hours and are favoured by leisure boaters, with the other two-week moorings used by live-aboard boaters, who need to keep moving throughout the year under their licence conditions.
The Atkins report says: “Mead Lane is possibly the only place on the river where mooring for 14 days is practical and legitimate. [It] provides well over half of the readily available moorings between Bath and Bristol.
“In recent years, the Mead Lane moorings have often been full, meaning boaters have had to resort to mooring elsewhere on the limited official and many unofficial moorings. With the increase in use of the moorings, objections from residents of Mead Lane have arisen.
“At present there are no alternative locations for 14-day moorings between Bath and Bristol. There are few locations left that are suitable, and none as suitable as Mead Lane.”
The report suggests other locations in Twerton, Newbridge, opposite Kelston Park, the Shallows in Saltford, the Avon Valley Water Park, Keynsham Hams and Broad Mead, but some have no public right of way.
The council budgeted £35,000 this year for “Mead Lane activity” and a £25,000 recurring sum from 2021/22.
A report to next week’s cabinet meeting says the site’s 14-day moorings are valued by the boating community and officials have taken no action to move boaters on during the pandemic – but that “no enforcement” approach could end after the meeting on October 8.
It recommends banning mooring between November and March, potentially introducing charges, and removing the 48-hour moorings permanently from November 1 to create open space.
It says the council will then ensure suitable alternatives are available before the two-week moorings are taken away. The process could take around a year. The aim will be that the total number along the watercourse will not be reduced.
The council could jointly fund a river warden with the Canal and River Trust to lead on enforcement, as advised by Atkins, and work with the police to review the parking restrictions in Mead Lane.
Councillor Paul Crossley, the cabinet member for community services, said: “We want to meet the needs of all communities who value this special stretch of the River Avon.
“It is essential however that we do not remove visitor moorings until suitable alternatives have been found for boaters.”
Boater Rebecca Sarll reacted angrily to the proposals, saying: “Why have the council bothered doing a mooring trial, having community trigger meetings, paying thousands for an independent review of the situation and spent thousands on this survey if they’re not going to listen to the results?
“I don’t know why they are listening to a minority of strange people who have bought houses by a river, but don’t like boats, over all these impartial, independent reviews.”
I don’t know why they are listening to a minority of strange people who have bought houses by a river, but don’t like boats, over all these impartial, independent reviews Boater Rebecca Sarll