OPLAC in the Media
Latest
Radio 1 BBC London 10/3/10.
Hear the PLA’s Chief Exec appearing to concede click here
TV
London Tonight 10/3/10.
The tranquillity of life on the river is being disturbed by a row about money..
Houseboat owners on the Thames fear their way of life will be threatened if huge rent increases are imposed on them.
About 280 boats moored will be affected, with many facing rises of more than £1,000. Full story www.evestand.notlong.com
Evening Standard 10/3/10
Vince Cable has 200 houseboat inhabitants in his constituency
Houseboat families priced off Thames, says Vince Cable
Nicholas Cecil, Chief Political Correspondent 10.03.10
Artists, pensioners and low-paid workers are being driven out of houseboats on the Thames by soaring licence fees, Vince Cable is claiming.
The Twickenham MP spoke out against the “gentrification” of the river by rises in levies from the Port of London Authority. He stressed that many houseboat residents, who could not afford to buy a London home on land, were facing large and often incomprehensible increases in the cost of a licence.
The Lib-Dem Treasury chief, who has 200 houseboat inhabitants in his constituency, said: “The less well-off are being forced out to be replaced by the affluent.”
He claimed one of his constituents had faced a 60 per cent increase in licence charges to £1,700 a year, following a 200 per cent rise five years ago, while another was facing a doubling of the fees to £30,000.
The port authority stressed it had to maintain the river. It added that some of the figures quoted by Mr Cable were for groups of moored vessels. “When this is considered, the weekly charge per boat is very reasonable,” said a spokesman.
Daily Mail 12/3/10
Web
BrentfordTW8.com 9/3/10
Residential Boat Owners Face High Increase
Licence fees increase fivefold in ten years
Andrew Dakers with Susan Penhaligon and other campaigners against PLA charges
Vincent Cable MP and Cllr Andrew Dakers (Lib Dem Prospective MP for Brentford & Isleworth) are working with actress Susan Penhaligon (famous for the series "Bouquet of Barbed Wire" and more recently appearing in Emmerdale) to highlight the plight of residential boat owners on the Thames faced with massive increases in licence fees from the Port of London Authority (PLA). Susan Penhaligon, who has a boat at Kew Bridge, has launched a campaign with her fellow residential boat owners.
Ms Penhaligon claimed a small group of boat owners in Hounslow in 1995 were paying £1,939 for one riverworks licence. In 2007, after retail price index increases she said it stood at £2,787 – but following a review in 2007, alleged the PLA was demanding £9,400.
Vincent Cable has, so far, held two debates in Parliament on behalf of the 200+ residents in the Twickenham constituency who live on boats, have no security of tenure and are faced with big arbitrary increases in licence fees. He writes this week for the Evening Standard on the subject.
Vincent Cable MP said: "There have been several cases recently of residents on Ducks Walk and Thistleworth Marina facing exorbitant increases in licence fees and this is a pattern up and down the river. There has to be some regulation of this monopoly charging."
Cllr Andrew Dakers, Lib Dem Prospective MP for Brentford & Isleworth, added:"The Port of London Authority may have expertise in managing a commercial port, but they would appear to have little appreciation of the consequences of these exorbitant increases in license fees on ordinary people’s lives. Better regulation of the PLA is now essential and urgently required."
For more information visit www.oplac.org
http://www.brentfordtw8.com/default.asp?section=info&page=libdems005.htm
Nnet-server.com 9/3/10
Mutiny On The River
As residential boat owners face 'massive' increase in PLA licence fees
Lib Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Brentford & Isleworth Cllr Andrew Dakers has joined forces with MP Vincent Cable and actress Susan Penhaligon to highlight the plight of residential boat owners on the Thames.
The river's residents are currently facing a massive increase in licence fees from the Port of London Authority (PLA).
Susan Penhaligon, who has a boat at Kew Bridge, has launched a campaign with her fellow residential boat owners.
Vincent Cable has, so far, held two debates in Parliament on behalf of the 200+ residents in the Twickenham constituency who live on boats, have no security of tenure and are faced with big arbitrary increases in licence fees.
He said, "There have been several cases recently of residents on Ducks Walk and Thistleworth Marina facing exorbitant increases in licence fees and this is a pattern up and down the river. There has to be some regulation of this monopoly charging."
Cllr Dakers added, "The Port of London Authority may have expertise in managing a commercial port, but they would appear to have little appreciation of the consequences of these exorbitant increases in license fees on ordinary people’s lives. Better regulation of the PLA is now essential and urgently required."
For more information visit www.oplac.org
March 9, 2010
Parliament Early day motion:
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=40653&SESSION=903
New Event! - Sep 24, 2009 5:15:50 PM