Renewed Bid To Have Houseboats Moored At Strand On The Green

Request for new residences on the river

A second bid in two years has been made for permission for houseboat moorings at Strand on the Green.

The application to Hounslow Council has been made for two residential vessels, or houseboats and is for the "formation of residential boat mooring including driving 2 piles, installing timber grid, pontoon, access ramp and gate and mains services."

The applicants say this is not connected with a recent proposal for a 'Chiswick Beach' facility for 25 houseboats and a leisure facility.

The location is known as Steam Packet Steps, which is the last set of steps past the Bell & Crown pub towards Kew Bridge (opposite Hearne Road and Cafe Rouge).

Local residents are being given the opportunity to comment on the application. The details state that the permission is sought for "moorings for 2 residential vessels"- a similar application was made for one houseboat mooring two years ago.

"It involves the installation of 2 steel piles to hold everything in place, a timber grid, so that the moored boats will sit level when the tide is out, a pontoon to separate and provide access to the moored boats, a hinged access ramp from the river bank to the pontoon, and mains services."

The site is presently vacant, but, like most of the river frontage at Strand on the Green, was used for mooring boats and barges from the 18th century until the mid-20th century. In particular it was used by vessels associated with the Pier House Laundry, built in 1905, and the Steam Packet Public House (now Café Rouge).

The applicants say that historic photographs show that during this period double-banked barges were characteristic of the use of the river frontage for moorings at Strand on the Green. They claim that the limited extent of the moorings means they would have minimal impact on river views, whether into or out of the Conservation Area, or along, across or from the river. Their location away from the sitting areas and their elevation in relation to the land means that the moored boats would only be prominent at high water, they say.

There are no other houseboats in this area although there are communities of houseboats in Brentford, past Kew Bridge.

A proposal known as Chiswick Beach for 25 houseboat moorings and leisure facilities extending downstream from the drawdock at Kew Bridge, which included the application site, was made in March 2017 and withdrawn early in 2018.

Local residents who wish to make any comment relevant to this application should register them within twenty one days.

Residents can also copy the email to the local residents' association, SoGA, email: info@strandonthegreen.org.uk

May 11, 2018