Too many residentials

AS MORE and more marinas are accommodating more and more residential boaters, it is creating ill-feeling with those boaters who originally chose a marina for its privacy, that is becoming spoilt by the numbers of liveaboards and their noise, with Nial Morrison writing:

I, like many others am getting particularly annoyed by the lack of privacy due to the huge numbers of residential boaters in Saul Junction Marina.

Non- residential only

Saul Junction Marina was granted planning permission in 2008 by Stroud District Council on the proviso it was for non residential mooring only.  Since then Lakeland Leisure have bought it as well as Great Haywood marina.

Being a non residential boater, we have found that both our neighbours in the marina are residential, as are 60% of those in the marina.

Contrary to planning restrictions

The manager, Bob Ford, seems to turn a blind eye as to the increasing number of residential boaters living in the marina, surely contrary to the planning restrictions.

Lakeland Leisure seem to have adopted the same opinion, never mind the planning restrictions, let's fill the marina.

So how does that affect the people who are legally moored in the marina?

Animosity

Animosity has started to prevail between legal non residential moorers and the residential moorers.

Last Saturday whilst boarding our boat, we heard loud music coming from our neighbour. He had his side hatch open and was playing some computer game. Our side hatch is adjacent to his.

Being a warm day we opened our side hatch, only to find our boat was filled with the noise of video game.

"If you don't like it move"

I knocked on his boat and asked him to turn it down.
His reply was:

"I am a resident here, if you don't like it move."

My reply was:

"You are a resident in a non residential mooring, so if you don't turn it down I will contact Stroud District Council and report you."

His reply was:

"Stroud District Council know about us residentials and there is nothing you can do about it, if you don't like it, move."

Took boat out of marina

So as usual, to get some piece and quiet, we took our boat out of the marina.

We are paying over £2,000 a year for our mooring, why should we, as legal non residential boaters, have to put up with non paying council tax dodgers who think they own marinas?