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Planning permission finally granted for houseboat.


Alan de Enfield

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A Bristol family’s planning “hell” has ended after councillors took pity and allowed them to finish building their dream home in the Floating Harbour.

Trevor Gray broke down in tears as he spoke of the “bonkers” red tape and confusion that had frustrated his family’s efforts to turn a disused barge near Wapping Wharf into an eco-friendly houseboat.

Gray and his partner Molly Petts have spent two years turning the concrete Ferro barge into a three-bedroom houseboat for them and their two-year-old son Toren.

 

'Planning hell' over for family as self-build houseboat granted permission (bristol247.com)

 

 

Trevor-Gray-and-Molly-Petts-with-their-son-Toren-aboard-the-Ferro-photo-by-John-Myers.jpg

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Thats a huge mistake, all the boats will now eventually be replaced by "houses", and before long somebody will say they cant move so why do they even need to float? lets  build them directly onto the river bed then we can make them 5 stories tall, and fill the entire harbour?

.

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10 minutes ago, Athy said:

The family has certainly been given a hard time by the pen-pushers.

I can't see any resemblance to a slum.

Really?? They’ve built a shed in an area of historic interest! Try putting the same thing on land somewhere like in the middle of Stratford on Avon. They deserved more than a hard time from the council. 

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13 minutes ago, frangar said:

Really?? They’ve built a shed in an area of historic interest! Try putting the same thing on land somewhere like in the middle of Stratford on Avon. They deserved more than a hard time from the council. 

I don't see a "shed", I see a properly built floating home with an appearance not dissimilar to that of houses on modern estates.

This is obviously an area where floating housing is established and acceptable - for example the chap's mother lives on an adjacently moored barge.

   I have no great liking for modern houses - ours is Edwardian and that suits me fine - but I can't see any reason  for the council to object to this one.

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52 minutes ago, frangar said:

Really?? They’ve built a shed in an area of historic interest! Try putting the same thing on land somewhere like in the middle of Stratford on Avon. They deserved more than a hard time from the council. 

Neither a shed nor a slum, but a reasonable attempt to make a good living space out of what was presumably a derelict barge. Damn sight better than a rotting narrowboat with rubbish dumped all over the towpath.

Sooner or later, it's going to have to sink in to some people's heads that other folk have to have a roof over theirs, and if it is made impossible to get bricks and mortar, other possibilities will have to be explored. We might like to keep the waterways as a playground, but that's not what they were built for, and it might be wise to remember that.

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17 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

Neither a shed nor a slum, but a reasonable attempt to make a good living space out of what was presumably a derelict barge.

 

 

Excellent programme last night "My Floating Home" where a Dutch couple were converting a 120 foot ex-cargo ship to a houseboat.

Some trials and tribulations but what a nice job they did.

 

My Floating Home

Series 3 Episode 6

 

My Floating Home - On Demand - All 4 (channel4.com)

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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13 minutes ago, Tonka said:

Now that they have permission, how long before they are up for sale at an over inflated price

 

Or even at a reasonably inflated price...

 

I'd say his planning gain as a result of this decision is about £100k. How long before there are 500 other, identical applications?

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1 hour ago, frangar said:

Bristol is the next floating slum then….

Only if you prefer to see miles and miles of narrowboats 90% of which are by the same 5 builders and all houses built by half a dozen builders. Amsterdam is full of interesting looking  houseboats, so is Utrecht and the Thames has a fair few too. Anyway, what would you rather see?

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1 hour ago, frangar said:

Really?? They’ve built a shed in an area of historic interest! Try putting the same thing on land somewhere like in the middle of Stratford on Avon. They deserved more than a hard time from the council. 

They already have. That theatre is more akin to a warehouse.

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4 minutes ago, Bee said:

Only if you prefer to see miles and miles of narrowboats 90% of which are by the same 5 builders and all houses built by half a dozen builders. Amsterdam is full of interesting looking  houseboats, so is Utrecht and the Thames has a fair few too. Anyway, what would you rather see?

Something more in keeping with a historical port than a shed on a pontoon. At least a converted Dutch barge looks like a boat. 

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1 hour ago, Athy said:

I don't see a "shed", I see a properly built floating home with an appearance not dissimilar to that of houses on modern estates.

This is obviously an area where floating housing is established and acceptable - for example the chap's mother lives on an adjacently moored barge.

   I have no great liking for modern houses - ours is Edwardian and that suits me fine - but I can't see any reason  for the council to object to this one.

 

'ouses on the land, boats on the water. Lots of land for 'ouses but navigable water is a limited and precious resource so should not be used for building 'ouses.

 

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5 minutes ago, frangar said:

Something more in keeping with a historical port than a shed on a pontoon. At least a converted Dutch barge looks like a boat. 

 

I find myself agreeing with Dave's comment earlier. Given it is not designed to move, why does it need to float? Before it eventually sinks, why not sink piles into the harbour bed to support it? Then fill in under it? 

 

And by extension, referring to discussion in another thread, do these people count as "proper boaters"? 

 

 

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17 minutes ago, Bee said:

Only if you prefer to see miles and miles of narrowboats 90% of which are by the same 5 builders and all houses built by half a dozen builders. Amsterdam is full of interesting looking  houseboats, so is Utrecht and the Thames has a fair few too. Anyway, what would you rather see?

So you are stupid enough to think that the narrowboats will sell and disappear because the people will move onto house boats. Dream on

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It does look a bit ramshackle in my opinion.

 

But each to their own I suppose.

 

Think I would rather buy a finished house boat that looks, well finished, and isn't lined with OSB for and interior :blink:

 

https://yorkmarina.co.uk/boats-for-sale/boat/?Make=Custom&Model=1-Bedroom-Floating-Lodge&BoatID=7054337

 

 

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10 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

It does look a bit ramshackle in my opinion.

 

But each to their own I suppose.

 

Think I would rather buy a finished house boat that looks, well finished, and isn't lined with OSB for and interior :blink:

 

https://yorkmarina.co.uk/boats-for-sale/boat/?Make=Custom&Model=1-Bedroom-Floating-Lodge&BoatID=7054337

 

 

Perhaps he would too but he hasn't got £149,000 available.

Oh, and that looks far more like a shed, albeit a well-made and -fitted one, than the one which is the subject of the topic.

Edited by Athy
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1 hour ago, Athy said:

I don't see a "shed", I see a properly built floating home with an appearance not dissimilar to that of houses on modern estates.

 

   I have no great liking for modern houses - ours is Edwardian and that suits me fine - but I can't see any reason  for the council to object to this one.

It is situated in a conservation area against a backdrop of listed buildings.   

 

Whether or not it should be permitted is a more subjective question - but broadly speaking, an application for a modern estate house in such a setting would at least provide an understandable reason for objection.

 

 

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