City planners have asked owners when the waterfront walkway linking the new ‘Boathouse’ retirement flats with the Riverdene Place development will be opened.

 

An update from the planning enforcement team was forwarded to a local resident, who had enquired about it, by Bitterne Park councillor David Fuller (Con).

It’s since been shared with various local Facebook communities, including to our own page.

The update talks about previous enforcement action up to 2013 concerning a locked gate from Whitworth Crescent to the riverside walk.

It wasn’t pursued further then “as the waterfront route was and still remains publically accessible and also the neighbouring development had not yet come forward so the route did not lead anywhere” .

The gate, left, had apparently been locked because residents said that otherwise anti-social behaviour occurs; there’s (lots) more about this issue from a November 2010 council meeting here [pdf]

Commenting, Cllr Fuller said: “As always with these issues it is getting a balance between the rights of local people to access the water, whilst also protecting the residents of the properties that adjoin the water from anti-social behaviour and other problems.”

However, says the letter from planning enforcement: “With the completion of the neighbouring sheltered residential development the importance of the waterfront walkway is now more pertinent...”.

Officers say they’ve therefore written to the freeholder asking for the removal of the padlock and for them to “identify how the route is to be opened up to link with the neighbouring route”.

They’ve also been in touch with the Boathouse owner’s agent to find out when their waterfront walkway, which now looks close to completion (our picture of the walkway shows the state of play on June 30), will be opened up.

The tension between the right for public access to the waterfront, and protecting groups of residents from ASB and other crime, is also reflected over the water at the Quay 2000 residential development in St Denys.

There, a riverside walk close to flats has been closed to the public for some time, and there’s a current planning application to vary the 1998 Section 106 agreement that allows access to a waterfront path ­- to close it for public use.

You can read a plethora of comments, for and against, on the council’s planning portal from this link  – and there’s further debate under at least two threads on local Facebook group St Denys Rocks .

It’s not currently known whether, and if so when, the Quay 2000 application will go before the council’s planning panel. UPDATE 4/7/19: We understand that the Quay 2000 item is likely to be on the agenda for the July 16 planning panel meeting. The agenda should be published from this council webpage when available.