Watermans Park Houseboats, A Boat Owners point of view
Greetings to the Brentford TW8 Community This is my first post to TW8 I thought it might be good to put my perspective up as a boat owner and try and explain what the Watermans Park Boating Community are trying to achieve.My boat the Alvracht has been moored in the park for over 10 years, we have a registered postcode, pay council tax and were even written to by the Council in the past to be informed that our address was not “Victoria Steps Quay” but rather Watermans Park ! :-))When the Council put forward their plans for the new marina we decided to try and engage positively with the Council and had a meeting with Steve Curran & Heather Cheesborough to explain why we thought a more ecologically sound, improved design could make the Park much better for the public, allow the boating community, some of which have lived here for over 30 years to remain, pay affordable mooring fees and Council tax and improve the appearance of their boats.Whilst being told during that meeting by Steve Curran, that above all he was a pragmatist and simply wanted to improve Watermans Park, we got the impression if we came up with a better alternative we would be given a chance to present it, to this end we invested a lot of time and effort to create a detailed alternative design that....DOES NOT:1.Steal Park Land to give to Private boat Owners for their Carpark2.Stop Bikes and Wheelchairs cycling/travelling from one end of the park to the other3.Fill the riverbed with in excess of 17,000 Tons of Concrete4.Drive 938 pilings into a very toxic Riverbed threatening the local ecosystem ( The toxicity is from the former Gasworks which occupied this site for decades)5.Backfill in a significant part to the Park, almost to the road level, destroying one of the park’s best features which is that its well below the level of one of the busiest roads in Brentford6.Evict a long standing community, many of which will need rehousing in a borough which has one of the worst homeless problems costing the Council yet more money7.Reduce the Children’s Play Area by 40%8.Make the Park a Building Site for Years closing it to the pubic 9.Remove Attractive mature trees in the Park10.Cost £5.4 million for the benefit of a few Private boat OwnersBUT RATHER1.Extends the Boardwalk to provide a better viewing experience for the public.2.Provides a Public Pontoon where families can get down to the river and enjoy the proposed floating gardens3.Install a minimal number of Pilings (70 vs 938 ) so as to minimise ecological damage4.Allow the existing boating community to remain as well as providing additional affordable commercial moorings to mitigate the development cost5.Carryout the entire development in 6 - 9 months during which time the public can continue to use the park with minimal disruption.6.Deliver the Project for fraction of the cost of the Council Proposal saving the Council Millions.7.Renovate an eclectic group of boats to make the Park attractive and interesting and above all a Community Space..Unfortunately all attempts to present our design have been rejected….. Ruth Cadbury, our local MP even offered to try and arrange a chance to present our designs to Steve Curran and the council but still our offers were rejected.......Please have a look at www.watermansparkmoorings.co.uk to find out more about both designs, I hope you feel that our design benefits the people of Brentford more than the awful Marina design, if you do please support us and email your objection to the Council Plan to the members of the planning committee. Their email addresses can be found herehttp://democraticservices.hounslow.gov.uk/mgCommitteeDetails.aspx?ID=595 and also Councillor Steve Curran Steve.Curran@hounslow.gov.ukPlease copy in wesupportyou@watermansparkmoorings.co.uk so we can read a few messages of support at the planning meetingAny aspect of our ideas you feel we have not answered just email Questions@watermansparkmoorings.co.uk and we’ll do our best to get back to you as quickly as possible with an answer.The Planning Meeting is on the 12th May at 7.30pm I feel the Council will try and rush yet another insensitive Brentford Gentrification Project through and destroy the last Public space on the Thames in Brentford. How bad is that, given the Thames runs through the middle of Brentford and should be a feature to be enjoyed by the people of Brentford, and this is the last bit left ?Thanks for taking the time to read our point of view. ( BTW we would love to improve the look of the website but we are pretty rubbish at Wordpress, if anyone could give us a hand or point us in the right direction you’ll be invited to the first BBQ of the season and plied with your favourite tipple ! )
Nick Day ● 3568d0 Comments