Bath’s houseboat community is likely to loose a prized mooring spot near the city.

Bath and North East Somerset Council bosses will vote this week on removing short term moorings at Mead Lane, Saltford, at the start of

November.

The plans follow years of escalating tensions between people living on and off the water, with boaters accused of damaging the 350-metre stretch of riverbank. 

A Council-commissioned survey by consultants, Atkins, this month, found “no indication that mooring is adversely affecting bank stability”.

Despite its recommendations to keep the moorings and employ a River Warden to manage them better, cabinet members will be asked to agree to a “long-term aspiration” to relocate the moorings from Mead Lane. 

The Atkins report says: “Mead Lane is possibly the only place on the river where mooring for fourteen days is practical and legitimate. It provides well over half of the readily available moorings between Bath and Bristol.  At present, there are no alternative locations for 14-day moorings between Bath and Bristol. There are few locations left that are suitable, and none as suitable as Mead Lane.”

The Council budgeted £35,000 this year for “Mead Lane activity” and a £25,000 recurring sum from 2021/22. 

A report to this week’s cabinet meeting says the site’s 14-day moorings are valued by the boating community and officials have taken no action to move boaters on during the pandemic – but that “no enforcement” approach could end after the meeting on October 8th. 

It recommends banning mooring between November and March, potentially introducing charges, and removing the 48-hour moorings permanently from November 1st to create open space. 

It says the Council will then ensure suitable alternatives are available before the two-week moorings are taken away.

The Council could jointly fund a River Warden with the Canal and River Trust to lead on enforcement, as advised by Atkins, and work with the police to review the parking restrictions in Mead Lane. 

Boater, Rebecca Sarll, reacted angrily to the proposals, saying: “Why have the Council bothered doing a mooring trial, having community trigger meetings, paying thousands for an independent review of the situation and spent thousands on this survey if they’re not going to listen to the results?

“I just can’t get my head around it.”

Stephen Sumner, LDRS