LW/Prop41,
Canal & River Trust acting as Trustee of the Waterways Infrastructure Trust,
National Waterways Museum Ellesmere Port,
South Pier Road,
Ellesmere Port,
Cheshire,
CH65 4FW
Dear Sirs,
Ref: LW/Prop41: Disposal of a parcel of land adjacent to Limehouse Basin, Commercial Road, London E14
On behalf of the Commercial Boat Operators Association, I am writing to object to the proposed sale of the above.
Whilst the doubled locks down to Limehouse have not been in use for some time, they are still present and capable of being put back into operation one day if needs be, for whatever reason. If the Trust were to sell the lock side land, it is hard to see how the lock could ever be put back into operation again, with the lock side under others’ ownership and control. Space is needed for gates to swing and an area is needed for boat people to walk and use the bollards etc. Restoring/re-gating and maintaining the lock would also be impossible or difficult.
The area is also designated as the Regent’s Canal Conservation Area, and as such this is a good reason for keeping the 2nd lock for heritage and conservation reasons. The proposed sale would also conflict with the Trust’s Charitable Objects “to protect and conserve, for public benefit, sites, objects and buildings of archaeological, architectural, engineering or historic interest on, in the vicinity of, or otherwise associated with the infrastructure property”. The 2nd locks stand as interesting visual testimony to the heavy traffic that used the canal in the past.
Some of the history of both the waterways and railways between the 1950’s and 1970’s is one of lost future opportunities with closures and infilling, some of which are now being expensively reversed. We should not simply negate any possibility of rendering a waterway structure impossible to use in the future.
Whilst it is hard to see how boat traffic – either leisure or commercial with ‘last mile’ delivery – will ever be as busy as several decades ago, this is not to say that there will never be a case for opening the 2nd lock again.
I trust you will take our comments into consideration. Thank you.
I would be grateful if the person dealing with this proposal would kindly acknowledge receipt of my message, via email to me. Thank you again.
Yours faithfully,
Richard Horne
Planning Officer, Commercial Boat Operators Association
r.horne@cboa.org.uk