'slumboats'

[Poppy]

The problem of unsightly  boats moored on the Broads by liveabords is one that has been an issue for a number of years, and gets no better.  There is one in the dyke at Upton that has allegedly been there since the winter, and has spead 'stuff' across the bank!

It seems that the problem is not limited to our part of the world.

The council in Elmbridge have escalated their problem to the top.

 

https://www.elmbridge.gov.uk/moorings-unauthorised/letter-to-environment-agency/

[OldBerkshireBoy]

Seeing as it is around the Hampton Court and Weybridge area I am not suprised the natives are in uproar! That said the vast majority would only know about it via the golf club, local papers and the pub & coffee shop grapevine where the ladies that do lunch meet on a weekly basis.

Being serious, it is wrong as is sub letting to people wanting cheap places to stay and anybody who has travelled on canals in this country will see much the same. The only big difference is that people in the main visit the broads on holiday.

[Ray]

The danger, as with most things, is throwing the baby out with the bath water. Since I moved to Norfolk I have come to know quite a few liveaboards and they are all immaculate and lived in by nice, decent people.

Any kind of regulation needs to concentrate on spoiling the environment rather than being a liveaboard per se I think.

[YnysMon]

Yes, not an issue with being a liveaboard at all, Its just about respecting your surroundings. We wouldn’t appreciate having a next door neighbour who didn’t look after their property and left a load of junk about. There does seem to be a small minority who appear to treat the bank as their personal tip unfortunately. I’m sure that liveaboards who treat the rivers with respect must be even more fed up with such individuals than those of us who only occasionally visit. 

[Poppy]

Of course theissue isn't with all liveaboards. I'm sure most recognise the type I am refering to, of which 'Pelican', frequently commented on here is/was a classic example .

[Ray]

3 minutes ago, YnysMon said:

. I’m sure that liveaboards who treat the rivers with respect must be even more fed up with such individuals than those of us who only occasionally visit

Absolutely! It's like being a responsible dog owner and seeing uncollected faeces or bags of the stuff.... literally give a dog a bad name.

[Bernard]

All the liveaboards I know or know off do a great job of keeping their boats and surroundings in good order, apart from a well known one in the stalham/sutton area who treats it like a dump, don't think I need to say any more!

[CambridgeCabby]

With either exception of two well known liveaboards every one ,and I have met many, are a credit to the Broads and a very useful unpaid resource in keeping your boats safer  

[Cheesey69]

If they got the magic three. Tolls, insurance and BSS and not on a 24hour what can they do? 
The mess needs to be proved but the rest?

 

[Polly]

What side of the dyke are they?

[NeilB]

I'm aware links to other forums are not allowed but if you search from *slumboats* on the Thames forum section of the Motor Boat & Yachting forum you can see the history stretching back several years.

[JennyMorgan]

7 hours ago, Poppy said:

The problem of unsightly  boats moored on the Broads by liveabords is one that has been an issue for a number of years, and gets no better. 

There are some really unsightly boats costing many tens of thousands of pounds moored across Broadland, it's not a problem limited solely to those who choose to live aboard! Indeed a planning officer once commented to me, in jest, that it was a pity that planning did not apply to boats. Perhaps he had a point!

[grendel]

i have about 40 bags of rubbish filling my back garden at present, but with our local council tip only open by appointment and only allowing 1 visit a month i am stuck with it for a while yet.

[Upcycler]

5 hours ago, Ray said:

The danger, as with most things, is throwing the baby out with the bath water. Since I moved to Norfolk I have come to know quite a few liveaboards and they are all immaculate and lived in by nice, decent people.

Any kind of regulation needs to concentrate on spoiling the environment rather than being a liveaboard per se I think.

There will always be that stigma that attach to these people, they live of the land and stuff anyone else.

You will get the good and the bad that live on the rivers, unfortunately the bad leaves a mark in peoples minds.

[Hylander]

Answer - a box of Swan Vestas.!!!!

 

 

[grendel]

9 hours ago, grendel said:

i have about 40 bags of rubbish filling my back garden at present, but with our local council tip only open by appointment and only allowing 1 visit a month i am stuck with it for a while yet.

at least i wont resort to fly tipping it.

7 minutes ago, Hylander said:

Answer - a box of Swan Vestas.!!!!

 

 

unfortunately I have neighbours that vociferously complain should I light so much as a match (technically we are about 20m outside a smoke free zone) but who are quite happy to have a bonfire in their garden when they fancy one and burn paint covered wood, yet my wood stove i use in the garden with a 2" chimney always raises complaints.

[RumPunch]

11 hours ago, grendel said:

i have about 40 bags of rubbish filling my back garden at present, but with our local council tip only open by appointment and only allowing 1 visit a month i am stuck with it for a while yet.

Skip ?

[Happy]

1 hour ago, grendel said:

at least i wont resort to fly tipping it.

unfortunately I have neighbours that vociferously complain should I light so much as a match (technically we are about 20m outside a smoke free zone) but who are quite happy to have a bonfire in their garden when they fancy one and burn paint covered wood, yet my wood stove i use in the garden with a 2" chimney always raises complaints.

  I live next door to one of those too, you never know what he is going to do next.

[Hylander]

We have one also lives nearby drives an old Morris Minor,  sits in it all day long revving it up and going nowhere.   I call him Doris Morris.   I do sometimes wonder.

[Vaughan]

11 hours ago, Upcycler said:

There will always be that stigma that attach to these people, they live of the land and stuff anyone else.

 

Hmm . . . . .

 

[grendel]

1 hour ago, RumPunch said:

Skip ?

its a possibility, but as it would involve parking bay suspensions the cost increases, I think I priced it out at about £200 with the added parking bay costs, which for a service the council should provide for free, is a bit steep, its just they are restricting visits to the tip due to coronavirus, to book I have to apply to medway council (for a tip in canterbury) and I have about 4 car loads to take which means 4 months as you are only allowed one visit a month, normally I could have got it done in a couple of hours.

[RumPunch]

21 minutes ago, grendel said:

its a possibility, but as it would involve parking bay suspensions the cost increases, I think I priced it out at about £200 with the added parking bay costs, which for a service the council should provide for free, is a bit steep, its just they are restricting visits to the tip due to coronavirus, to book I have to apply to medway council (for a tip in canterbury) and I have about 4 car loads to take which means 4 months as you are only allowed one visit a month, normally I could have got it done in a couple of hours.

Fair enough - I took advantage of lockdown to borrow the holiday home next doors drive ( with permission ) for a skip

[Vaughan]

Is this perhaps getting off the subject a bit? Unless the skip floats, of course?

[NeilB]

I live close to the Grand Union canal and there are half a dozen or so "continuously cruising" liveaboards, they tend to movbe back and forwards along a 5 mile stretch so are not really abiding by the regulations.  However, they are all very friendly people you can stop and chat to and I've never heard of any issues.

The original story posted relates to a selection of vessels moored at various location on the lower Thames, when they get evicted the owner moves them somewhere else.  They are not what I would call a liveaboard as the owner rents rooms out on each vessel.  It's been going on for several years now and one of the vessels was worryingly described as being a "bonfire waiting for a match"

https://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/13800268.boathouse-moored-illegally-for-so-long-in-west-molesey-its-now-on-google-maps/

https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/slumboat-returns-thames-molesey-after-13653358

[JanetAnne]

10 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

Is this perhaps getting off the subject a bit? Unless the skip floats, of course?

Nicely bought back to Pelican!