City’s boat people in battle against eviction
Up to 30 families living on narrow boats in Manchester’s New Islington Marina are battling eviction ahead of £5.2m of remedial work which was set to be rubber stamped by the city council’s executive today.
The residents are calling on council members to rethink their proposals, which they believe are aimed at taking the Rochdale Canal marina upmarket.
The proposals include the eviction of the boat people from the city’s only residential marina by the end of August.
Resident claim plans have been drawn up without any consultation with them and “without any consideration of the impact” on their lives.
They believe the planned repairs could be carried out in a phased manner allowing the boats to stay and that the repairs are being merely being used as an excuse to remove the boats prior to a proposed sell-off of the site to a private marina company.
A petition launched by the New Islington Marina Residents Association, an informal group of residents which is organising the campaign, was launched on Friday evening and has already garnered over 1,500 signatures.
A number of residents were attending today’s meeting in the hope of getting their concerns recognised by council members.
Jane Williams, of the campaign group, said: “This case highlights the difference between the public and private faces of Manchester City Council.
“Publicly the city pledges an affordable home for everyone, to rent or own. Yet privately they are now planning to evict an entire community – expecting them to just float away from their homes.
“After a meeting between council officers and marina residents last week the council have agreed that existing residents may be invited back once the park reopens – probably not until 2019 – but only once the Marina has been passed on to a private company who will demand inflated fees for exactly the same service.
“This is despite council officers conceding that residents were the victims of the poor design and construction of the marina from the outset when they were invited in to form a residential boating community.”
She continued: “New Islington Marina is the only residential marina in the centre of Manchester, and is located in the “regeneration” area of Ancoats and New Islington.
“In the six years since the boats first arrived the area has gone from the wasteland of a demolished council estate to the council’s flagship housing development.
“The boats have been at the heart of this regeneration and the community that has built has flourished.
“If the council goes ahead with a decision to remove the boats it will not only destroy the community the boaters have established, but will force most of the residents to either give up their homes or leave the city they love.”
The New Islington Marina boat community
In a report to the council’s executive committee, its officers say in order to undertake the works on the marina in the most cost effective and safe manner, it will be necessary to relocate about 30 boats currently moored there.
It goes on: “Boaters were written to several times during 2016 making them aware that this may be the case and in May, 2017, a further letter was issued giving advanced warning that all boaters would need to leave the marina by August 31, 2017.
“Formal notice will be served in July, 2017, giving boaters four weeks’ notice to leave in line with the terms of their mooring licences.
“Officers have been working with the Canals and Rivers Trust and private marine operators within the vicinity to provide assistance to boaters to identify alternative moorings whilst works are undertaken.
“Once are completed and the Marina is reopened boaters who currently hold licenses will be offered the first opportunity to take new residential mooring licenses in the marina. However, it is likely that by this point a new Marina Operator will have been appointed, replacing the interim arrangements that are currently being provided by Urban Splash. The terms of mooring licenses will be reviewed as part of this process and may be amended.”
