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Actress Susan Penhaligon takes on Port of London Authority over mooring fees (From Hounslow And Brentford Times)
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Actress Susan Penhaligon takes on Port of London Authority over mooring fees
1:00pm Saturday 6th March 2010
A star of stage and screen is hoping to gather a fleet of house boat owners to help sink an organisation which she claims is ruling the river.
Susan Penhaligon, who moors her floating home on the River Thames, at Brentford, has labelled the Port of London Authority (PLA) “bully boys” for trying to force increased mooring fees amounting to thousands of pounds on boat owners across the borough and beyond.
Ms Penhaligon, whose most famous role was in controversial 1976 drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire but who was seen more recently in Emmerdale, described the licence fee system used by the PLA to charge different rates to different boats as “shambolic”.
She is calling for a complete overhaul. She said: “It’s quite extraordinary, I’ve never felt quite such a sense of injustice.
“There are some very wealthy people on the river but there are also some poor people too.
“It’s such a complicated system, we need an independent ombudsman to look at it all and sort it out – it’s a complete nonsense.”
Ms Penhaligon claimed a small group of boat owners in Hounslow in 1995 were paying £1,939 for one riverworks licence. In 2007, after retail price index increases she said it stood at £2,787 – but following a review in 2007, alleged the PLA was demanding £9,400.
She said one of her neighbours, 75-year-old Jill Townsend, could not afford to pay a newly-requested 273 per cent licence fee increase.
Ms Townsend said: “I have been living on the river for 28 years and I don’t want to lose my home.”
Ms Penhaligon, whose campaign for a change in the system has the support of ward councillor Andrew Dakers and Twickenham MP Vince Cable, added: “It’s like a piece of social engineering where they only want wealthy people on the river.
“You cannot turn people out of their homes.”
Dr Cable revealed that he had tabled a motion for a debate on the matter in the House of Commons.
In it he condemned the fact that excessive charge increases “risk pensioners and families on low and subsidised incomes losing their homes” and expressed concern that the PLA was “abusing their monopoly powers”.
To learn more about the campaign visit oplac.org.
A spokesman for the PLA said charges levied on boats ensured they could fund safety patrols on the river 365 days a year.
He said Ms Penhaligon “pays just £8.04 per week to moor their boat, a charge not formally reviewed in over 20 years”.
He added: “During this time property values have risen dramatically and a reassessment is overdue. Our aim is to agree the fee through discussion – if this is not possible, we will go to independent arbitration to reach a settlement.”
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Your Say YourHounslow
Rees, Chiswick, London says...
8:46pm Mon 8 Mar 10
MacGregor, Teddington says...
10:43pm Tue 9 Mar 10
Consequently, Cable travelling to areas outside his own constituency – in order to campaign with a Lib Dem parliamentary candidate – doesn’t impress. Indeed, with an impending general election – it smacks of complacency – as well as taking his constituents for granted.
Rees, Chiswick, London says...
3:20pm Wed 10 Mar 10
I don't understand your point that "Cable gives the appearance of being in cahoots withhis LibDem colleagues against his own constitutents whom he is supposed to represent". I would have thought he was looking after his constituents' interests in joining forces witrh Cllr Dakers. After all, this is a cross river issue affecting both constituencies not just Brentford & Isleworth. Dr Cable doesn't strike me as taking his constituents for granted; he's doing exactly what an M.P. should be doing - looking after their interests.
MacGregor, Teddington says...
9:11pm Wed 10 Mar 10
Down by the river: Jill Townsend, Lorraine Hudson, Susan Penhaligon, Coun Andrew Dakers, Valerie Austin and Pauline Hill are fighting increased mooring fees
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MacGregor, Teddington says...
1:52am Sun 7 Mar 10
And what causes Cable to make such hypocritical statements as “It’s like a piece of social engineering where they only want wealthy people on the river.” For Cable’s own brand of “social engineering” check out his proposal of a ‘mansion tax’ on houses worth over £1m – which had to be amended to £2m – after his own party accused him of acting autonomously. Although Cable was a Labour councillor in Glasgow in the 1970s, many of Cable’s economic ideas appear to stem from that period – and seem rooted in Labour ideology.
And why did Cable ignore his constituents in Twickenham when they were objecting to his Lib Dem council proposing to concrete over part of Twickenham Riverside for luxury housing? Perhaps if they moved to another constituency – like Brentford & Isleworth – he may have taken notice of their protests.