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Environmental Issues

The Downings Roads Barge Community is committed to developing the moorings in terms of conservation and enrichment of existing natural resources, wild life and habitat.
Thanks to its Ecological Initiatives, Downings Road is one of the top recycling communities in London - with 75% of all its waste diverted from landfill.


Links are being established with various local and national environmental organisations. For example, the London Wildlife Trust considers that the barges, the floating gardens and the "harbour", provide another safe link in the Thames "Highway" along which wild water birds cross London. Here, they are able to rest, shelter, breed and find nourishment.

Many of the barges which ground on the shingle at low tide are protected by beds of tyres. According to research studies at Southampton University, these can foster colonisation by small animal and plant species, and micro-life, in addition to providing shelter for laying hatching and spawning. All this, in turn, provides rich nourishment for both wild river birds and fish.


Again, from research evidence, the tyre beds play an important role in riverbank stabilisation, slowing down the rate of shingle movement and erosion. These tyre beds, and the barges themselves, are protecting the foundations of the buildings along the riverside, which inevitably, over time would suffer from the ravages of tidal impact and violent washes with possible subsidence problems.

Alternative Energy

At present two barges are adapted for accessing alternative energy. An ongoing feasibility study is looking at the use of sun, light, wind and river to power, initially, the communal areas of the moorings, and eventually each individual barge. It is hoped that this initiative will prove a model for other river communities.

Expert advice (and/or sponsorship) for this project would be very welcome.

With the help of Southwark Council - the community now recycles as much of its rubbish as possible. Most kitchen waste is now composted in special boxes located on the garden barges.

 

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