Report by Rebecca Taylor
Step
through the metal gate that leads to the river at Bermondsey’s
Reeds Wharf and you enter a magical floating world. Poppies and
geraniums spill over from the sides of the houseboats moored here,
and bobbing walkways overflow with honeysuckle and fruit trees,
all set against the dramatic backdrop of Tower Bridge and Foster’s
glass ‘gherkin’.
But the houseboats and barges that make up this colourful riverside
community are under threat of eviction. In July, following noise
complaints about the boats from residents in Springalls Wharf, the
riverside flats overlooking the moorings, Southwark Council ordered
the Port of London Authority to force the boats off the water because
they don’t have planning permission. Southwark has also served
notice on Nick Lacey who rents out the moorings. The boats have
appealed the notice and are awaiting a date for a public inquiry
to decide their future.
‘We’ve been here for five years, one boat has been here
18 years and in all that time the
council has never said we shouldn’t be here,’ says film-maker
David Kew, as his two-year-old son, Finn, leaps energetically around
the deck of the Storm Vogel where Finn, Kew and his partner Anna
live.
Barges have been moored here since the nineteenth century, with
the number of boats fluctuating at different stages of the wharf’s
history. These days, there are around 30 boats, some of which are
trading vessels more than 100 years old. Residents include architects,
a lawyer, an IT consultant, a theatre director and even the Dean
of St Martin’s School of Art. Many boat owners have brought
up their children here, many volunteer in the local community, and
in May the floating gardens won first prize in Southwark’s
Community Gardens competition. ‘They are an absolute joy,
there’s a sense of community down here,’ says Charles
Gore, Chief Executive of the Hepatitis C Trust, whose offices overlook
the moorings.
According to Southwark, the crux of the matter is planning permission.
It says that the presence of the community has altered the ‘physical
surrounding area’ and has meant an increase in activity at
the site. It says it has received many complaints from local residents
about noise over the past four years. ‘We are sorry that this
situation is obviously causing distress to those who live on houseboats
at this site. However, as an authority we have an obligation to
all local people. Where a development like this has grown up without
proper planning permission, it would be irresponsible of us to turn
a blind eye,’ says Cllr Nick Stanton, Leader of Southwark
Council.
The boat owners say they are protected by ancient mooring rights
that predate the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947. ‘Asking
the moorings to make a planning application is like asking Tower
Bridge to do the same,’ says Nick Lacey, who has rented out
the moorings for the past 20 years. ‘In terms of their change
of use, historically they were used in a mixed kind of way. They
were used for barge repairs and building operations and there was
some residential use. It was much more limited, but you could say
that was live-work then, and what is happening now is live-work,
too,’ he says.
But some Springalls Wharf residents disagree. ‘It’s
very sad if you’ve put your life savings into a retirement
flat, as one of the residents on the ground floor has done, and
the view is entirely removed,’ says Susan Hicks, chair of
the Springalls Wharf Residents’ Association. At present a
derelict barge lies a few feet away from the ground floor flats,
completely blocking off their views of the river. According to documents
provided by Hicks, an exclusion zone forbidding moorings directly
in front of the flats’ windows was sold by Lacey to the developers
for £45,000 during the flats’ construction. Lacey has
ignored requests to clear the space, says Hicks. Other complaints
relate to noise caused by repairs to the barges and from a late-night
party.
Following warnings by the council, the boat owners have addressed
many of these complaints. They have drawn up a code of conduct that
includes a rule forbidding work being carried out on the boats before
8am and after 6pm, and on weekends. But the question of the blocked
view still remains. Although Lacey recently removed one of the offending
barges, another has been put in its place.
However, many of the flats’ residents are supportive of the
boat owners. ‘I feel very sad that it has come to this. There
ought to be some way of coming to a solution so they don’t
have to leave,’ says Springalls Wharf resident, Christina
Hurst-Prager. ‘But I live on the sixth floor, which makes
a difference. The people on the ground floor and first floor have
the barges in front of their noses.’
While complaints by the wharf residents are not unreasonable, such
concerns can surely be resolved without removing people’s
homes, workplaces and – that rare commodity for Londoners
– a real sense of community. As riverside living increasingly
becomes the exclusive territory of the wealthy, shouldn’t
Southwark be protecting the houseboats as a more affordable housing
option, as well as a unique and diverse asset? ‘Putting an
eviction notice on them without having a talk is certainly heavy-handed.
The council should have made an attempt to come to a settlement,’
says Deputy Mayor Jenny Jones. Southwark MP Simon Hughes has also
expressed support for mediation.
‘If the boats leave here, there would be a massive hole in
the history of London,’ says Kew. ‘We feel this is a
fight worth fighting because it is of value to London. To just sail
away from it would be a loss for everyone – not just for us.’•
For more information, go to www.savethemoorings.org.uk
or email info@savehemoorings.org.uk.
To support the houseboats cut out the letter and send to Simon Hughes
MP, House of Commons, SW1 OAA or email simon@simonhughesmp.org.uk.
©
2003 Time Out Magazine Ltd. Reproduced with Permission.
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