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 Why it matters

The removal of all residentail boats would make more than 70 people homeless and force businesses out of the borough.


Downings Roads Moorings are the largest and possibly the oldest surviving moorings in London. It is vital that they are preserved. They are both the home to London's best collection of historic boats as well as a unique community that lives on them.

There are no available spaces within London to house such a number of large boats. If the moorings are destroyed Southwark Council will make the residents of Downings Roads Moorings homeless or force them to look outside London for alternative mooring spaces and in so doing will threaten their jobs, businesses and education.

 

The moorings provide a rare example of affordable housing for a people with close ties with and involvement in the local community.

There are several children living at Downings Roads Moorings, many of whom were born on the moorings, and they now attend local schools and nurseries.

The residents reflect a wide variety of skills and expertise. They include architects, solicitors, key workers and working artists.

Quite a number of the moorings' residents are involved in voluntary work with the local Council. There is also a long history of involvement with education and public art programmes within the borough. Aside from this, there are a number of businesses run by the berth holders both on the moorings and within Southwark Borough. Eviction would inevitably have a detrimental effect on all of this.

The moorings are the city’s only floating gardens.
As well as greatly improving the visual amenity of the area they are a vital link in the ecological corridor of the Thames, attracting each year a growing number of enthusiastic visitors from all over London.

Ironically, they have just been awarded first prize in the Community Gardens section of the Southwark in Bloom competition.


There have been residential boats moored here before most of the surrounding buildings were converted from commercial wharfs into luxury apartments.

Considering the surrounding wharfs were built to service the boats, that the river is inarguably a marine place, and that the moorings at Downings Roads are the largest single collection of historic trading vessels on the Thames, it is essential to ensure its continued existence.

 
         

 

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