Paul

Well posted Amanda. This just goes to show that the first and proper course of action in such cases is to report to boatyard / authorities. This proves that when you do, action is taken. Of course, that needn't stop we forumites chewing the cud afterwards!

I'm not suggesting it does Dave, simply answering your point about planning permission and giving examples of why decking might need permission. Given the fact that they are professional and usually competent people I am sure the Authority's planning enforcement officers will have established good reason why the development does need permission.

A good move in my opinion. It is time some of these iconic buildings were recognised and protected. Many have already been lost, victims of the increasing value of the plots on which they stand and replaced by modern alternatives.

Added to which if any part of it is more than 30cm above normal ground level it automatically needs planning permission as a "raised platform".

Dave, decking is considered to be a structure, and so comes into the 50% plot rule. You cannot cover more than 50% of any plot with extensions, conservatories, sheds, summer houses, decking etc without applying for planning permission

Maybe it's just me becoming cynical in my old age, but when something like this arises I always look for the hidden agenda. As MM says there really is very little information about the circumstances in the article but it would appear that this gentleman has decked the majority of his plot as a safety measure for his disabled wife. My issue with this, as Imtamping2 has already raised is that decking is not the safe surface he makes out. When wet it is extremely slippery, especially as it ages. Then there is the issue of the planners offer. A perfectly fair and reasonable proposal in my opinion and credit the Authority planners for finding such a sensible solution, however towards the bottom of that paragraph we read the comment that "it has been rejected as he fears it may devalue the property". Surely it will not devalue the property below what it was valued at before the work commenced. I think that refusal, and the grounds given for it speak volumes.

Firstly, I would register my disagreement with Smellyloo's opinion that these items are not suitable for the platform of a public forum, I think this is just the thing that should be highlighted as by doing so it may come to other peoples attention that such behaviour is not acceptable, people who might otherwise have thought that racing around the broads, or some other waterway on a boat at full throttle sounds like fun. Either they address their ambitions and navigate safely or go elsewhere, I don't mid which. I fully respect the issue of trial by forum though, although again in this case am going to suggest there is no defence and disagree with Maurice Mynah's statement about a valid reason too. Regardless of the situation on board it is not acceptable to put your safety and that of others around you at risk in response to an emergency. That is the first point of training given to ambulance drivers, fire engine drivers, air ambulance pilots, mountain rescue teams, in fact all emergency service personnel. Had this been some emergency dash to meet an air ambulance, a feasible situation, then the people on board the boat would have been told exactly that by the call centre operative. Had this been a genuine emergency the boat could still have made effective headway whilst overtaking correctly, with the falling boat on the starboard side which I'm sure is in the bylaws somewhere. About the only emergency service I know that doesn't operate to that strict code is the Lifeboat Service but even they have a strict code of what is and is not acceptable in terms of risk and reward. With regard to speed it is quite possible that they were not speeding. The tide at Great Yarmouth can reach a much as five miles per hour on the ebb, travelling against such a tide you could be making 10mph through the water but only 5mph over ground, and as we all know Broads speed limits are measured as speed over ground. There is however an offence of causing excessive wash, proven in the video, and an offence of careless or dangerous navigation. Passing so close to a moored boat at such a speed through the water and causing such wash would certainly fall into that category. With regard to hull speed the hull speed is reached when the wavelength of the bow wave reaches the same length as the boats waterline length. At this point the boat effectively falls into the trough behind the wave. A boat with a waterline length of 40 feet has a hull speed of 9.75mph. The wavelength of the bow wave increases with speed, and the amount of power required to drive the boat forward increases in turn with the bow wave wavelength to a point where at the hull speed any amount of additional power will have no discernible effect on forward speed.

I feel I should just advise people that this sort of experience on the southern rivers is very rare. All of the photos have very clearly been photo shopped to remove the grey skies and constant rain which plagues the rivers south of Great Yarmouth. The commentary has clearly omitted the daily battles with ferocious tides, the sea monsters which await the unwary mariner, the endless string of overpriced public house selling sour beer and stodgy food , the pirates , the lack of moorings, the rubbish fishing and the dog eat dog attitude which pervades the boating fraternity of the southern rivers. Trust me, gentle reader, your much safer and much better off up north. meanwhile, purely in the case of public interest I shall continue to cruise these wild, untamed southern rivers to ensure the navigation is retained. I shall suffer the pubs, such as the Ferry House at Surlingham, The Kings at Loddon, The Locks at Geldeston, the Commodore at Oulton Broad and many others, all on your behalf of course!

I love classic launches, day boats, slippers, gentleman's launches etc. but a always amazed at the prices they fetch on the broads. Perhaps it has something to do with the rarity value but there are equally good examples (some better) on the Thames which whilst still very expensive offer much better value. Take a look at the likes of Peter Freebody or Stanley & Thomas and they have some fabulous launches. Having said that at £100k plus this one is expensive, top of my wish list for a lottery win would be this little beauty. Yours for the cost of several body organs or a modest family home in the home counties!

wasn't that a Faircraft mould from the days of their tie with the NBD name

Correct MM, The "New" Cut, all canal!

remember that the closed season still applies to those canals and canal sections classified as SSSI's so always check that the section you plan to fish is not designated. An increasing number of canals, especially urban canals are being listed as they offer habitats to many declining species. Blame the newts again! It is worth making sure, the CRT are very active in their pursuit of illegal angling. Speedtriple, you missed one trick, there is a section of bona fide canal (not canalised river section) on the broads. Not sure you would get away with fishing it though!

Glendarroch!

Guilty as charged, the (xxxx) artist formerly known as Boatboy. I didn't realise it had been quite that long, but thought I hadn't seen you around that corner of the world for a while.

The issue with tide heights is not the predicted Lunar tide level but the effect of downstream flow on the high tide level, which can be considerable on the Waveney. There is very little at present, and unless we see some serious rain in the next few days I doubt that will change. Tides high enough to float a boat on to that bank are few and far between.

Hi Keith, is the recruiting Sergeant still as good as it was. Heard a report recently that it had gone downhill but that was from someone who tends to think the only place to eat on the broads is the Lavender House and everywhere else is peasant food. Have you moved from WRC by the way?

Well, I suppose for the sakes of informed debate the bad bits are as important as the good. For me, the bad bits reflect changes in peoples attitude which are universal rather than specific to the broads, and to expect the broads to be immune to them is perhaps unrealistic. They also apply equally to hire boaters, owners, sailors, mobos etc, etc, etc. Running engines on moorings is number one, engines are devices for propelling boats through the water and if used sufficiently for that purpose will supply ample battery power and hot water for everyones needs if used responsibly. If one thing above all else would ever put me off boating on the broads it would be this. Mooring hogs are pet hate number two, it has become common practice to leave a carefully measured sixteen feet eight and one half inch gap between boats when tying up, or if possible to position a boat exactly in the middle of a mooring which otherwise could take two boats. Once upon a time the master of a boat would make room for someone looking to moor even before being asked. Nowadays a request is most likely to be met with a two word answer. There is a third point, but I think it is too controversial to raise, even for this progressive forum and being relatively new around here I don't want to be hounded out of town quite yet!

I wouldn't consider Vettel a serious contender this season, he won in KL as much due to Mercedes arrogance than the Ferrari's performance. Merc believed they could bring Hamilton in for an early stop under the safety car and that cost them the race. They also made a big mistake in qualifying sending the drivers out with 6 minutes to go and line astern. I doubt they will make those errors again. Vettel has proved he can win titles when he has the fastest car, I don't think he is good enough to do it when he hasn't.

I think the situation ar Mercedes this year will be a little different to last year given the potential threat from Ferrari. Last year Mercedes could pretty much do what they wanted to and it was no sectret that their backers, mostly from Germany as well as Mercedes top directors would have preferred to see Rosberg as Champion. Hamilton very much won against the odds. This year things are different. Vettel proved in KL, albeit largely down to complacency from Mercedes that Ferrari can threaten and they have more development tokens available for their engine than do Merc. Mercedes may soon have to make a deceision to support one driver as Number 1 and I think Rosberg knows that. If he falls too far behind then he's toast. Of course whilst we congratulate the individuals we must also remember that many of the worlds top Motorsport teams are UK based, even many that operate under foreign flags.

Ask at the Yacht Sta before setting out, they should have an adjusted low water time for Gt Yarmouth, use that rather than a published time. The Waveney tends to ebb for ten minutes or so longer than the Yare so our plan has always been to hit the middle of the New Cut 20 minutes after low water St Olaves going north and a half hour after when heading south.

Just to say the half price Lamb legs at Asda are lovely. A couple of those for the freezer I think.

Lamb for us today too, has everyone been shopping at Asda? As to what makes the broads so special I may be villified for my comments but for me it is the love of boating, and the broads offers the most cost effective boating holidays. There are very special places, Cruising along the town reach in Beccles is as good as it gets. I hope JC has installed that in Heaven or I'm going to want a return ticket! Waking early in a nice remote spot, that feeling after a hot day on the river and a cool shower, shorts and t shirt and out on deck for the last of the day with a good book and a G&T. Unbeatable. But that said there are special places on other waterways too, The Caldon Canal between Stoke and Froghall is very special, The vistas along the whole length of the Caley make it very special. If you were lucky enough to enjoy the western isles when hire boats were available there then you will have enjoyed something very unique. In fact, if my six numbers ever make an appearance my boat would probably be based somewhere around the Southwestern end of the Caley.

An important point Iain, the recliner is electric. Unlike sprung ones they stay exactly where you put them and if like me your back starts to ache you can often move the back a couple of inches which makes all the difference. We have electric recliners on the armchairs and sofa and I would not want to give them up.

Often it is not the network operator that determines signal quality but the device. iPhones for example have very low power antennas and get quite a poor signal. Sony Xperias on the other hand have quite effective antennas and generally receive stronger signals. That said, a dedicated mifi unit will usually get a better signal and many allow an external antenna to be attached. Using a failry standard Vodaphone Hauwei mifi with an external antenna unlocked with a Virgin Moble card I get sufficient signal in Horning to sed and receive emails, browse the web and even "tunnel" into online games I play.

Perhaps the best way forward for the Parish Council is to obtain a full copy of the Definitive Statement of Horning RB4 from NCC so they know exactly what they are dealing with. In truth they should already have this for the parish. The master copy is kept at County Hall. If there is no definition of width shown on the difinitive map or in an associated statement which is extremely unusual then the PC's next move might be to reduce the width of the right of way to the minimum required by law, being 3 meters. I don't know how wide it is now but I'm guessing between 5.5 and 6 meters. If anyone bothers to take a look at this map they will find some interesting points. 1) There is no right of way between the southern end of the restricted byway and Lower Street. The Byway terminates at the Slipway. 2) The lane by the side of Country Treats between Lower Street and The Staithe is a restricted byway, Horning RB4a, yet it is obstructed by bollards and barely 3 meters wide. 3) The path between the Staithe and Willow and The Green is also a restricted byway, Horning RB4b. It is obstructed by gates and fences and nowhere near 3 meters wide. It's strange that all these people who suddenly find the need to defend our restriced byways have not complained about either of those! i wonder if I make an FOI request to NCC there will be any legal statement allowing these obstructions? I'm not sure I agree with that Dave, I think Strow's image is pretty conclusive though it doesn't really matter if it's six spaces, ten spaces or 110 spaces they are not benefitting local businesses if they are occupied for days or weeks on end by users of the Marina, or other local moorings. In response to nimbyism then I would refute that. I think cars parked along there make the green look untidy and we often sit on the Green and eat our ice cream (someone is going to tell me now that that constitutes a picnic and they are not allowed on the green!) and I would much rather watch the boats come and go than stare at the side of a 4x4. Even if this is a case of NIMBYism then so what, surely it is the locals who's opinion is most important? Parking in Horning is a problem, but illegal parking is not the answer. It shoudl be remember that there are around a dozen 30 minute parking spaces (by Strowagers measuring, or 30 by Dajen's) on Lower Street. If you look on Street View and use the various dated maps available you never see them all full. On a final note, I would like to share something with you all that made me smile. You may find it funny too. A signee of the petition to remove the planters stated the reason being that parked cars stopped children running directly from the staithe and falling in the river. She obviously visits Horning regulalry to take such an interest but not often enough to realise there are little fences along each saide of the roadway to trip the little "darlings" long before they get there.