We are taking action or have taken action on unauthorised moorings at Cigarette Island, Albany Reach, Ditton Reach, Hurst Park, Cherry Orchard Gardens, Walton Towpath, Hampton Court Bridge, confluence of Rivers Mole and Ember, Molesey Lock and Desborough Island.
Latest news from Environment Agency (EA)
Several vessels have come adrift and become sunk or abandoned along the Thames from Shepperton to Teddington. Where they can be identified, the EA will work with boat owners to resolve these issues. The EA has also engaged with contractors to plan for the removal of sunken vessels at EA weirs and against EA riverbanks.
To report any issues please email WaterwaysThames@environment-agency.gov.uk.
Hurst Park
The Environment Agency (EA) are continuing the enforcement work that they have started in Hurst Park with the intention to improve the current situation regarding moored vessels overstaying their permitted mooring period.
Cherry Orchard Gardens
Land Registry application update
The EA believe that they own the land in this location but it currently remains unregistered with HM Land Registry. Attempts to register the land by adverse possession to date have been challenged by local river users. These challenges have been sufficient to suggest that the application may not have been successful based on the evidence available at the time. Following further evidence gathering and correspondence with HM Land Registry throughout 2022 and early 2023, the EA requested a cancellation of their application. The EA are now working on an alternative land registration route based on historic title evidence and plan to submit a further application to HM Land Registry, subject to securing sufficient evidence.
The EA are aware that three applications for registration of small sections of the river bank have been submitted by local river users in recent months and plan to submit objections in respect of these applications once we are consulted by HM Land Registry.
Civil trespass proceedings
On Wednesday 19 April 2023, the Environment Agency served possession proceedings to the riverbed, which the Environment Agency has registered title to between Sunbury Lock and Cherry Orchard Road West Molesey, and all boats found to be moored over the riverbed in that location at that time. This was heard in court at the end of October 2023. The outcome of that hearing has now been published, see: Judge rules against boat-owners flouting Thames mooring rules (April 2024) - Environment Agency took boaters to court over illegal occupation of public riverbank for several years.
A further appeal hearing was held on 10 July 2024 and the decision was upheld in favour of the EA. The judge refused the Defendants grounds for appealing his decisions in his court but had given them 42 days (until 21 Aug) to lodge appeals with a higher court.
An application for permission to appeal by some of the Defendants was made last August. Permission has been granted to 5 of the applicants so far and a decision has yet to be made on the 6th. A court date for the hearing of the appeal has yet to be appointed.
Planning enforcement
The council is aware of the issues at this stretch of the Thames in Molesey and is working with partners to secure a long-term solution to this area:
Planning permission was refused on 18 December 2020 for the retrospective mooring of the boats for recreational or residential uses at Cherry Orchard Gardens, Molesey.
The applicants appealed the refusal of these decisions and they were heard at an informal planning hearing on 15 March 2022. The Planning Inspectorate issued the appeal decision on 26 April 2022 and confirmed that they agreed with the council’s decision on 4 out of the 5 boat moorings and the appeals were dismissed, meaning planning permission is refused. The appellants sought to quash the Planning Inspectorate’s appeal decision via their statutory review applications.
The Court of Appeal have refused to grant permission to appeal on 20 January 2023, upholding the High Court Order to refuse permission for their statutory reviews on 27 September 2022.
On 4 August 2023, the council re-served enforcement notices on the boats. The boat owners have appealed the enforcement notices with the Planning Inspectorate. The council requested that the Planning Inspectorate turn the boats owner’s appeal away as the council believe that the boat owners do not have a legitimate right to appeal.
Following the Environment Agency bringing civil trespass proceedings against the boater dwellers and receiving written judgement on 8 March 2024, the Planning Inspector has postponed the Planning Inquiry that was due to commence on 23 April 2024 to consider the planning enforcement notices relating to the material change of use arising from the boats moored at the same location. At this time, the Inspector stands by the previous decision reached by the Planning Inspectorate that the appellants do not have a legal interest in the land and are not relevant occupiers for the purposes of Section 174 of the Town & Country Planning Act 1990 which provides that ‘a person having an interest in the land’ to which an Enforcement Notice relates or a ‘relevant occupier’ may appeal to the Secretary of State.
However, he notes that a further hearing is anticipated to be held before 31 July 2024 (now 21 August) and, that there may be findings made by the County Court in its final judgment of relevance to his conclusion as to whether the appellants do have standing to appeal against the enforcement notices. The Inspector anticipates making a final decision on whether these appeals (against the enforcement notices) should be turned away upon consideration of the County Court judgment pursuant to the resumed Hearing in or around July 2024.
Desborough Island
In October 2023 the Environment Agency (EA) served notices on the overstaying vessels in the Desborough Cut as part of a multi-agency enforcement initiative. However, since then the river has been on ‘Red’ boards, and it has not been possible to carry out further enforcement activity. Once river conditions improve, the EA will continue the enforcement work that they have started here with the intention to improve the current situation.
The EA will continue to carry out regular patrols to ensure that those who navigate on the River Thames have registered their vessels and are displaying their current 2024 registration. We will also ensure that vessel names are displayed and where vessels have been identified as mooring on our land or moorings beyond the permitted 24-hours, initiate appropriate compliance and enforcement action.
Cigarette Island, Hampton Court Bridge, Albany Reach, Ditton Reach
The council adopted a new Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) on 21 February 2024.
Update 14 February 2025
Following the legal challenge to the making of a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) to manage unauthorised mooring on council-owned land, the Court has confirmed that it has upheld the claim to quash the PSPO.
The council was unsuccessful only on the narrow basis that the drafting of the PSPO Order was not sufficiently clear that the PSPO restriction will not be enforced where there are streaming warnings for a certain areas upstream, even though the Environmental Enforcement Policy clarified that it would not be.
This means the PSPO cannot be enacted in its current form. However, the judge found in favour of the council on all remaining 14 grounds. This included findings that the wording of the PSPO was otherwise sufficiently clear, the PSPO was rational and fair, the council undertook a fair consultation and the council complied with its duty to make a fair Equality Impact Assessment.
We are disappointed by this decision, as we had fought hard to support our residents from unauthorised moorings on our council-owned land and the disturbance they bring.
We will now review the decision in detail and, given the courts finding in our favour on the remaining 14 grounds, some of which were key legal points, we will seek to amend and re-make the PSPO, undertaking any relevant consultation, to bring forward an order as appropriate to deliver the type of enforcement needed to ensure our rivers are used safely and for the benefit of our communities.
For more information see proposed PSPO for unauthorised mooring.