| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:A BETTER DESIGB FOR EVERYONE - Watermans Park Moorings | |
| Posted by: | Nigel Moore | |
| Date/Time: | 29/04/16 18:09:00 |
| Answering Sarah once more: “If you are allowed ownership of the free moving bank, what will stop you from putting in concrete pilings in a few years or selling the mooring on to a developer? What can protect the other boat owners from having the area blocked to them?” There is, as I hope I have managed to explain, no such thing as a “free moving bank”; the owner of the bank can say whether or not a boat may attach to his land, and for how long - and if in possession of a riverworks licence can ordinarily regulate the use of it. No individual could safely just put in pilings or whatever, and any active attempt to exclude the PRN from others would be criminal. Multiple regulations govern anyone wanting to install works into the riverbed as I have noted with respect to the PLA. Hounslow as Planning Authority would also have a say, as would the EA and possibly even the MCA. However if all regulatory bodies approve, Hounslow gain the requisite authority, and the moorings go ahead under PLA licence, then the only thing protecting the ability of boat owners in general to enjoy the use of a rare London visitor mooring would be the good will/public spiritedness of Hounslow when drafting their management plan. They could legally then block use of the moorings to everyone but the chosen deep-pocketed boat owners. That situation would apply, of course, no matter what scheme was implemented so far as the physical works are concerned; the greatest difficulty will be in persuading the Council to give present incumbents a stake in their plans, with the availability of visitor moorings being made an inextricable element of planning consent. Readily useable visitor moorings are not a realistic possibility with the present Council plans up for comment, so that is another element in favour of the alternative being promoted here. |