Tensions rise in Bath as houseboat residents on the River Avon face eviction orders from Bath and North East Somerset Council. The council has instructed boaters moored downstream of Pulteney Weir to vacate by September or face legal action, sparking a heated political challenge.
Eleven opposition councillors have banded together to question the council’s decision to register ownership of the riverbed with the Land Registry. This legal move aims to clarify the council’s control over the section of the river between the Recreation Ground and Parade Gardens.
These councillors have formally ‘called in’ the decision for further scrutiny at a council panel meeting scheduled for July 15. However, the council’s chief legal officer has restricted debate, prohibiting discussion on how the decision affects the boaters themselves, describing the councillors' objections as “primarily misconceived.”
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The councillors’ call-in expresses concerns that the move jeopardizes the security and rights of the current waterborne residents, with insufficient transparency over the council’s future plans. Specifically, they criticize a lack of clarity surrounding “associated projects” referenced in the council’s rationale, which includes improving public safety, supporting river health, and limiting council liabilities.
Led by Green Party councillor Saskia Heijltjes and supported by Labour, Independent, and other opposition members, the councillors have also raised human rights questions and oppose plans to temporarily close the riverside footpath on Bath Rugby match days—a path vital for the boaters’ access.
Bath and North East Somerset Council maintains that the land registration is a separate and limited administrative decision, unrelated to eviction notices or footpath closures, both of which have already been determined by earlier council decisions.
At the forthcoming meeting, councillors will only be allowed to discuss transparency issues related to the council’s associated projects. Broader debates about boater impacts or footpath closures are explicitly prohibited.
Despite the council’s warnings about river dangers in poor weather cited as reasons for eviction, residents like Percy Walton, who has lived on the river for four years, feel discriminatory motives tied to proposed developments, including a new rugby stadium on the Recreation Ground.
Troublingly for residents, the council is preparing to enforce temporary closures of the footpath used to access their homes during rugby matches from September, coinciding with the eviction deadline. Green councillor Heijltjes condemned this, stating: “People are facing the loss of their homes just as access to those homes will be blocked for private sporting events. That cannot be right.”
Meanwhile, the council’s cabinet member for communications, Manda Rigby, insists that footpath closures are being considered solely for public safety and are unrelated to boat removals.
The unfolding dispute illustrates growing friction between Bath’s houseboat community and the council’s efforts to assert greater control over the river and its banks amid broader development plans.