Eviction notices on resident boaters

Published: Monday, 07 June 2010

A COUNCIL has decided that the residents of  two narrowboats are not allowed to live on their boats without planning permission, and have served eviction notices on them both.

This action by East Riding Council will send shock waves through the boating community as hundreds of resident boaters are without planning permission at their moorings, and other authorities, we are told, are awaiting the eventual outcome with interest.

Needed planning permission

Gordon and Eileen Taylor have lived on their narrowboat Mary Grace at the Bethells Bridge moorings on the Driffield Canal for seven years, and the other couple, Dennis and Andrea Norris, have also been told by the council their boat needed planning permission.

Retired Gordon Taylor explained:

"Although the moorings are our address, it is not permanent because we move around the inland waterways network. We discussed it with the council when we first moved there and there wasn't a problem, even though we agreed to pay council tax of just over £1,000 a year."

New dwellings in the countryside

However the council have now objected to what it claims is effectively new dwellings in the countryside, even though both couples have been  living at the moorings for years.

Shocked Gordon and Eileen Taylor, have appealed against the eviction, but  if  they lose their appeal they will have to vacate their moorings.

Not likely to give consent

A spokesman for the council told us:

"The council has a policy objection to what is effectively a new dwelling in the countryside and is not likely to give consent for this change of use.

"That is why an enforcement notice was issued requiring those living in the boats without planning consent to permanently cease the use of the land for the stationing of boats used for human habitation purposes and remove them from the land."

There are now hundreds of people living in boats around the system without planning permission, both linear and in marinas, and this action by East Riding Council could have dire consequences for many resident boaters.