Houseboat owners in Bembridge have raised concerns that fire risk is being ignored in a recently submitted planning application.
Members of the Bembridge Houseboats Association believe that mooring up a further 9 boats in between existing houseboats on Embankment Road could prove to be a devastating move should a fire break out.
A planning application submitted on 12th January seeks a Lawful Development Certificate for the use of the land for the mooring of up to 34 navigable and floatable vessels, including the mooring of 25 houseboats and non-traditional houseboats for permanent residential use. This would see 9 additional houseboats situated on the banks of Bembridge Harbour.
Jeremy Gully, Chairman of the Bembridge Houseboat Association, has said:
“Fire on board a houseboat is every owner’s nightmare. Salutary lessons should have been learned in recent years after serious fires on ‘Rinjstroom’ and ‘Zambezi’, yet it appears the Harbour Authority wants to cram 9 more boats in between existing ones, seemingly oblivious to the real dangers of fire spread and potential loss of property, or even life.”
When the fire service attended a fire that totally destroyed the old ‘Zambezi’, close neighbour ‘Bryher II’ had to be hosed down to cool it. It is alleged that firefighters reported that if the boat was any closer they probably would have lost the battle and been unable to save ‘Bryher II’. Despite this, the Harbour Authority’s proposals include putting another boat in that very gap and some of the proposed new ‘plots’ are in gaps that are even smaller.
Mr Gully continued:
“There may be room for a few more without taking silly risks, but this proposal seems surprisingly ill thought through, and even reckless, particularly coming from a responsible Statutory Body such as a Harbour Authority. We invite them to re-think”.
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[Picture Below: The limited existing gap between ‘Bryher II’ and ‘Zambezi’]
