A cruising club is fighting for its survival after being told its decades-long “gratuitous” land access to a creek is being revoked at short notice by a new landowner.
Broadness Cruising Club has operated on the Swanscombe Peninsula since 1991 in the shadow of the former neighbouring cement works and, more recently, the now scrapped plans for the much-maligned London Resort theme park.
It has approximately 45 members with boats and has enjoyed land access to Broadness Creek, on the banks of the River Thames between Dartford and Gravesend, throughout its time via a locked gate.
But on July 21, members suddenly discovered a new gate had been erected, blocking their entry.
They were handed a piece of paper by the landowners signed by Nicholas Katz, chairman of Swanscombe Development LLP, giving notice of the removal of access.
It explained the original access agreement was “purely gratuitous” and allowed members to cross the land “solely” for the purpose of accessing the creek and launching boats.
A deadline of August 31 was given for all boats to be removed which warned that any left beyond the date would be treated as “abandoned”.
In the letter, the cruising club was accused of “wilfully abusing” the original access agreement by fly-tipping, starting fires and constructing unsafe platforms and outbuildings.
As a result, the landowner deemed the area “dangerous to safety” and said members would need to make an appointment to collect their boats and possessions.
The decision has rocked the boating community, which says it’s been there without problems for decades.
The club strongly refutes any claims of fly-tipping and says it helps to combat pollution with specific litter-picking days to clear washed-up rubbish.
It also has CCTV cameras installed to deter vandalism and regularly reports any incidents, including illegal fires.
Dave Edwards, committee member for the club, told KentOnline: “If this access removal goes ahead, then the club will just disappear.”
Since the notice was given, members can only access their boats in the meantime via a one-mile footpath, which is overgrown and inaccessible for many of the older boaters.
The members have emailed the new landowner to arrange a meeting, but claim they are yet to receive a response over a week later.
The club holds a River Works Licence of five years issued by the Port of London Authority (PLA) which permits the presence of structures or works below the mean high-water mark.
But, a PLA spokesperson said this licence does not cover landside access, which falls under the jurisdiction of the river bank landowner.
The notice comes after Swanscombe Development LLP, which own some 372 acres of the peninsula as well as around 39 acres of the nearby Manor Way Business Park, underwent a change of ownership after being bought by Land Logical Ebbsfleet Ltd.
The chairman, Mr Katz, told KentOnline that when he took stewardship of the peninsula on July 1, he had an independent health and safety report commissioned which suggested the site is in a “very poor state of repair”.
Points of concern identified in the report, seen by KentOnline, included “poorly maintained” jetties, abandoned vehicles and evidence of incorrectly disposed of waste materials and “burning” on site.
While appreciating the club had been there a long time, the chairman said the decision was taken to “protect the public” at large and members of the cruising club.
But its chairman, Conrad Broadley, has hit back at these claims and says the jetties, while being somewhat “ramshackle”, are private property and securely locked.
He claims the land where the club operates is not the safety responsibility of the new landowner, as the club has a lease with the PLA from the bank to the waterline, with all outbuildings built off the bank for this reason.
Meanwhile, committee members have expressed a willingness to do any repairs to make it safer and would consider public liability insurance to mitigate concerns.
Mr Edwards, 68, said: “As a club we’re really disappointed that the new owners haven’t reached out and contacted us and tried to discuss and work out a reasonable compromise.”
The club member has spent more than £1000 on building his jetty, which has taken more than six months, adding: “I was looking to be there until the end of my days.”
The notice has also caused alarm to Bob Thwaites, who is a separate entity to the club but has lived “off grid” along the river bank for the last 34 years, originally out of necessity, and is a friendly face for visitors.
The 78-year-old said: “This last week has shattered me. If I have to get out of here, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
Although he hasn’t got permission to be there, he has never been asked to leave either and doesn’t know if he can “cope” if asked to go back to traditional brick and mortar housing.
“It’s such a massive thing to me,” he added. “I don’t know what I’ll do.”
The Swanscombe Peninsula was made a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 2021 in a killer blow to the London Resort theme park plans.
It has more than 2,000 species of invertebrates, including a rare species of jumping spider, and 82 species of breeding birds.
The Prime Minister Keir Starmer cited the case of the spiders holding up housing plans as an example of unnecessary restrictions on development and suggested the construction of tens of thousands of new homes in the Ebbsfleet area had been stalled due to this.
But conservation experts hit back at those claims and called it an oversimplification of the situation.
Under the government’s planning bill, currently in the Committee stage in the House of Lords, even SSSIs could be built upon in exchange for developers paying into the nature restoration fund.
This would be administered by Natural England, which is both the executor and beneficiary of such schemes, according to a report in the Guardian.
Mr Katz says the plans for the peninsula in the long term are about “habitat creation” in association with Natural England, and there would be “social gain” with proposals to donate at least 35% of the peninsula to the local people.
Meanwhile, the cruising club are now waiting to see the health and safety report and receive a date to meet with the landowner.
Mr Broadley added: “We just want the landowner to honour the access.”
