Four boat owners in Bath have been formally billed a total of £55,000 by Bath & North East Somerset Council following the removal of their sunken boats from the River Avon. The council carried out the operation in May after the vessels posed a significant hazard to navigation and environmental risks.
Deputy council leader Sarah Warren explained that the council had repeatedly urged the owners to recover their boats themselves, but when no action was taken, the council stepped in. “We informed the owners at every stage that failure to recover their vessels themselves would result in the council seeking recovery of the costs,” she said. The removal process, which involved raising the boats from the river and towing them away from the city, cost approximately £55,000.
The owners have since been served with formal demands to either pay the full costs or agree to a repayment plan. Ms. Warren emphasized that boat owners carry responsibility for the upkeep and environmental impact of their vessels. The neglected boats had become a long-standing hazard in the waterway and a threat to local ecology. “We made every attempt to work with the owners over many months to arrange self-recovery before removing the boats ourselves as a last resort,” she added.
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Earlier concerns were raised by local homelessness charity Julian House, which criticized the council’s cost recovery approach as potentially victimizing vulnerable individuals. However, the council stated it has reached out to the owners to offer any necessary support, concluding none was required. The debt recovery proceedings will adhere strictly to the national protocol on pre-action debt and the council’s own debt policies.
Some of these sunken vessels, including two partially submerged boats near the railway bridge by the river path, had become familiar sights along Bath’s picturesque Georgian riverscape. A yellow buoy was placed nearby to alert other river users to a canal boat submerged just beneath the water’s surface in the middle of the river. In May, residents and commuters along the Avon witnessed the unusual spectacle of the sunken boats being lifted with salvage airbags and towed downstream, marking the end of a longstanding nuisance on the river.