THE WEEK IN East Bristol & North East Somerset
15th February 2023
Issue 768
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B&NES Council urged to sort out Saltford’s unsafe and dirty river A montage put together by the parish council of boats in Saltford
Bath & North East Somerset Council is being urged to clean up its act over the unsafe and dirty state of the River Avon in Saltford where abandoned boats are left to sink. After being lobbied by concerned residents, Saltford Parish Council has formally asked B&NES to take responsibility for making the river safer and cleaner. It says that B&NES is the riparian owner of the riverbank so litter and the pollution caused by sunken boats attached to its land is for B&NES to deal with. The parish council also says that as the unitary authority, B&NES has responsibilities for environmental health, planning and transport, and has published commitments to protect the natural environment and habitats and provide safe access to recreational green spaces. Through its Water Space Project, B&NES is being urged to carry out an investigation into how other local authorities use physical deterrents and byelaws to deal effectively with similar problems, and to work with the Environment Agency, Canal and River Trust, Wessex Water and, if necessary, the police. The parish council says it has become increasingly concerned at the “abuse and misuse” of the river and riverbank by a variety of visitors and users to the detriment of wildlife, local residents, the majority of the liveaboard boating community, the sailing and rowing clubs, and visitors who respect the
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Countryside Code. “The river has become an unregulated, unsafe area where abandoned boats are left attached to B&NES’ land/trees for extended periods and eventually sink. These often become dilapidated or subject to damage; in many cases this is akin to excessive fly-tipping or abandoned vehicles on the highway.” The parish council is asking on health and safety grounds that B&NES Council keeps to its commitment to end moorings in Mead Lane under its ‘Better Moorings Project’ before the spring season starts. It highlights an instance of an unoccupied narrow boat that was left poorly moored in Mead Lane well beyond the 14day mooring limit and sank when the river was in spate due to the unsuitability of the moorings because of the design of the 2005 riverbank stabilisation scheme. The sunken boat’s cabin was washed downstream and fuel leaked out. The council adds: “An old motorboat has been left unattended in The Shallows all winter and finally sank. Another larger boat has been moored in The Shallows for over two years and is slowly breaking up with bits falling off and into the river. B&NES Council has been informed of this on several occasions by residents who asked the owners, who visited the boat during the recent floods, to move it but
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pointedly refused to do so.” Also highlighted are problems of longer-term storage of boats by commercial companies on the 14-day moorings, hazards from motorised rubber boats or speed boats arriving and entering the river from B&NES Council land or from unauthorised use of privately-owned or managed banks and slipways, and unsafe large boats using the waterway without safety checks. Also of concern is raw sewage entering the river from storm drain overflows, and sewage and other waste being flytipped. The parish council says that on a river where there have been tragedies, dangerous activities by young people, such as jumping from the B&NES Council-owned LMS Bridge, nearly resulted in a fatality last autumn when a passing resident dived into the river and found a young person unconscious at the bottom. This week Duncan Hounsell, who represents Saltford on Continued on page 3
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