Fulham Football club to build 80mt long pier out into the Thames

[Alan de Enfield]

This appeared in the "Independent" on 31st march NOT the 1st April

 

Future of the Boat Race is at risk because of Thames pier plan, warns MP | The Independent

 

The future of the Boat Race may be put at risk by plans for a new pier on the Thames, ministers have been told.

MP for Putney Fleur Anderson told the Commons that plans by Fulham Football Club to build a pier extending into the Thames outside its home ground could be disruptive and dangerous for people boating on the river, including those participating in the annual competition between Oxford and Cambridge universities.

 

Labour MP Ms Anderson said: “The future of Putney Boat Race on the Thames and all sport and all the river clubs on Putney embankment are begin put at risk by a proposal by Fulham Football Club to build an 80-metre pier out into the river which will have then a clipper ferry stop, which if it runs will make sport, rowing and sailing too dangerous on the river, especially for all the young people who use it.

“There are about 4,000 members across 41 clubs along the river who will be impacted, those 4,000 members use this stretch of the river on average about twice a week.

“As well as 30,000 participants in rowing races in the first quarter of the year, there are approximately 1,400 children from clubs and rowing centres near the Fulham Football Club and that part of the river who use it several items a week.”

Intervening, Conservative MP Bob Stewart (Beckehnam) said: “I can’t see how an 80-metre pier into the Thames can actually be allowed to happen in planning terms because it is so much used there, particularly rowing. It is wonderful.”

[MtB]

Presumably its the Thames Clippers that present the risk with their massive wakes rather than the pier. Even a rowing eight ought to be able to steer around a static pier!

 

And it doesn't actually say 80m projection into the river stream although it tries hard to create that impression. I bet the landing stage is 80m long, in line with the river. 

 

A non-story I suspect.... assuming it wasn't accidentally published a day early. 

 

 

 

[nbfiresprite]

Its on the Fleur Anderson website as well  https://www.fleuranderson.co.uk/2022/03/31/press-release-the-future-of-putney-boat-race-is-being-put-at-risk-by-fulham-football-club-pier-plans/

 

 

Bit more detail here https://www.ranelaghsc.co.uk/ffc-pier/

Edited April 1, 2022 by nbfiresprite

[MtB]

5 minutes ago, nbfiresprite said:

Its on the Fleur Anderson website as well  https://www.fleuranderson.co.uk/2022/03/31/press-release-the-future-of-putney-boat-race-is-being-put-at-risk-by-fulham-football-club-pier-plans/

 

Rather confirms its the Clipper service they are worried about rather than the landing pier in particular.

[Machpoint005]

37 minutes ago, MtB said:

it doesn't actually say 80m projection into the river stream

 

Thanks - that was my immediate reaction too.

38 minutes ago, MtB said:

assuming it wasn't accidentally published a day early

 

Or this!

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

The 'architects' views seen to suggest it is directly out 'into' the river stopping almost half-way into the fairway.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by Alan de Enfield

[Stilllearning]

I assume this is eitherapril fools day, or any pier would be a landing stage along the bank of the river.

Clickbait.

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, Stilllearning said:

I assume this is eitherapril fools day, or any pier would be a landing stage along the bank of the river.

Clickbait.

Have you actually looked at the architects illustrations ?

 

[magnetman]

Tidal river with a long foreshore. 

 

Best option would be dredge out and pile a proper dock but maybe not allowed and probably rather expensive. 

 

Ore deliver the throngs of football hooligans by landing craft. 

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by magnetman

[nbfiresprite]

2 hours ago, magnetman said:

Tidal river with a long foreshore. 

 

Best option would be dredge out and pile a proper dock but maybe not allowed and probably rather expensive. 

 

Ore deliver the throngs of football hooligans by landing craft. 

 

Being on the inside of a bend , it would quickly slit up.

Must be hell for the locals on matchday, with the roads outside their houses blocked with parked cars. Some distance to the nearest bus stop, even further to the nearest tube and rail station. Putney Pier by Putney Bridge is the most westly stop of the clipper service from Westminster Pier.

 

Putney bridge marks the start of the speed limit upstream. As the rowing clubs are upsteam of the Putney pier, I can see their point about safety concerning the clipper boats, not so much from the wash due to the speed limit on this section more of a case when the clipper boats are turning round.  

[Scholar Gypsy]

There was a lot of lively and vociferous discussion about this at the PLA Upper River open meeting in Putney on Tuesday. (You can see the back of my head in one of the PLA's tweets).  Will be available on youtube shortly.  https://www.youtube.com/user/portoflondon/videos

 

I think the issue is the obstruction, at low water the clippers would take up pretty much all the water when turning around.  The PLA made it clear that, if and when there was a formal application, they would consider all the issues carefully.

 

There's a petition going round, and unusually for me I have signed it.

https://www.change.org/p/save-our-sports-on-the-river-thames-stop-the-pier

 

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

I think the issue is the obstruction, at low water the clippers would take up pretty much all the water when turning around.  The PLA made it clear that, if and when there was a formal application, they would consider all the issues carefully.

 

The planned turning-circle (to scale) of the clippers :

 

[Onewheeler]

On 01/04/2022 at 14:29, magnetman said:

Tidal river with a long foreshore. 

 

Best option would be dredge out and pile a proper dock but maybe not allowed and probably rather expensive. 

 

Ore deliver the throngs of football hooligans by landing craft. 

 

I was dragged up within 100 m of Fulham FC. In those days the site of the luxury flats immediately upstream was used by lighters which tied up on a well-dredged wharf. (The warehouses burned down in around 1972, always wondered what started the fire).  Indeed, the whole stretch upstream almost to Hammersmith Bridge was used as wharves.

[Scholar Gypsy]

1 hour ago, Onewheeler said:

I was dragged up within 100 m of Fulham FC. In those days the site of the luxury flats immediately upstream was used by lighters which tied up on a well-dredged wharf. (The warehouses burned down in around 1972, always wondered what started the fire).  Indeed, the whole stretch upstream almost to Hammersmith Bridge was used as wharves.

 

Some of the Dophins are still there. This is a bit further upstream, with Hammersmith Bridge in the distance.

[Onewheeler]

That looks like the old Duckhams Oil depot. I had a holiday job there in the seventies. The first few weeks I went round the plant collecting empty drums for loading onto a truck, then spent most of the day looking at boats. The management then noticed that I was underemployed and found a warehouse full of out of spec one pint tins of oil that had to be emptied into 200 L drums.

[Scholar Gypsy]

7 hours ago, Onewheeler said:

That looks like the old Duckhams Oil depot. I had a holiday job there in the seventies. The first few weeks I went round the plant collecting empty drums for loading onto a truck, then spent most of the day looking at boats. The management then noticed that I was underemployed and found a warehouse full of out of spec one pint tins of oil that had to be emptied into 200 L drums.

Yes, that looks like it. There are several oil distribution depots along this stretch.  Interesting that the structures in the river do not appear in the OS map (?1950 or so, on the left).

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=18&lat=51.48258&lon=-0.22526&layers=170&right=BingHyb