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Mooring on own land


Trevelyn

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I would be grateful for opinions and suggestions on the following matter.

I own some land on the banks of the Thames. The river is not navigable at this point. I was considering putting a mooring in on my land and craning a barge into position as a live aboard. Obliviously the barge would not be able to move very far from the mooring. Providing I have the licence to use the river would that be sufficient or are there any pitfalls?

 

Regards

Trev

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1 hour ago, Trevelyn said:

I would be grateful for opinions and suggestions on the following matter.

I own some land on the banks of the Thames. The river is not navigable at this point. I was considering putting a mooring in on my land and craning a barge into position as a live aboard. Obliviously the barge would not be able to move very far from the mooring. Providing I have the licence to use the river would that be sufficient or are there any pitfalls?

 

Regards

Trev

When you say not navigable do you mean you are past the point of the right to navigate, or that legally it is navigable but too shallow for anything much bigger than a row boat?

Added - Do you own the land under the water?  If small craft have a right and are able to navigate at this point, would your boat obstruct or event prevent their right to navigate.

Edited by Chewbacka
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1 hour ago, Trevelyn said:

I would be grateful for opinions and suggestions on the following matter.

I own some land on the banks of the Thames. The river is not navigable at this point. I was considering putting a mooring in on my land and craning a barge into position as a live aboard. Obliviously the barge would not be able to move very far from the mooring. Providing I have the licence to use the river would that be sufficient or are there any pitfalls?

 

Regards

Trev

Pedant mode - it's not a licence, it's a registration. There is a difference...

So having paid your annual registration fee (thank you very much, the River needs all the money it can get....). If you need to place any poles / structure in the river you'll be liable to pay an annual Accommodation fee. However they're not expensive - depends on the area of the accommodation. If you're on a bit that's s shallow that it is not navigable, I'd guess you'd need some way of keeping the vessel upright and that might / would need something in the river.

If you're above the official limit of navigation - then that might be different.

 

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Since the OP has his location listed as Cricklade, it would seem he is upstream of the head of navigation.

So a license may not be needed, but I would expect planning permission might be needed. I think the EA would probably be consulted in the planning process, but in their general environmental role, rather than as a navigation authority.

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53 minutes ago, Loddon said:

The head of navigation is not Lechlade...but Cricklade Bridge so he may be below it.

He has an interesting occupation ; )

Oops, missed that - perhaps a Trotman barge (see YBW forum) first and a marina second....

The rive is very shallow and gets narrow above Lechlade, so the thought of a broadbeam boat up the might restrict the flow and EA will have words to say about that.

To them the Thames is all about water management.

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On 6/15/2017 at 15:30, Trevelyn said:

I would be grateful for opinions and suggestions on the following matter.

I own some land on the banks of the Thames. The river is not navigable at this point. I was considering putting a mooring in on my land and craning a barge into position as a live aboard. Obliviously the barge would not be able to move very far from the mooring. Providing I have the licence to use the river would that be sufficient or are there any pitfalls?

 

Regards

Trev

You will need planning consent - it is arguable (just) when the vessel can and does leave regularly on a navigation - when the vessel can not leave other than being craned out there is no doubt

(A small boat that could be manhandled onto the bank wouldn't need consent, but any slipway for it would)

You will need a bespoke permit from the EA: This is not a foregone conclusion and is part of flood risk assessment. They will want to know whether the boat affects flood conveyance and they will also want to be satisfied it won't come adrift in a flood event.

I'm not in a position to offer an opinion on whether or not you will get either of those consents

Also, make sure you do own the bed or have riparian rights over it. If your property has changed hands recently or is modern then these may have been excluded at some point.

I assume you are below Cricklade Town Bridge as the river is virtually non-existent upstream of it - if so you are on the length where there is a right of navigation, and so must not obstruct navigation, but as you are above Ha'penny Bridge in Lechlade you are above the old conservancy limit and not on the EA's radar as navigation authority - it's an open navigation as far as I'm aware.  

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