Rivers and Estuaries: Derelict Boats

Question

11:06:00

Asked by

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the environmental and navigational risks posed by derelict boats abandoned on rivers and estuaries, and what steps they are taking to ensure their removal.

My Lords, no assessment has been made by the Government, as responsibility for operational matters on inland waterways rests with the relevant navigation authority. This includes dealing with derelict or sunken boats and their removal, and any risk to the environment or to navigation. Navigation authorities have statutory powers to remove such boats when they deem it necessary and appropriate, but have statutory duties to do so only in certain circumstances.

My Lords, the abandonment of vessels is a growing problem on our estuaries and rivers; it is effectively a form of marine fly-tipping. Can the Minister note that there is no real way of tracing the owners of most recreational vessels? This means that the cost of removal often ends up as a cost for landowners, local authorities and harbourmasters. Should there not be at least some form of registration system for all recreational vessels so that the owners are rightly held liable for getting rid of this environmental problem on our rivers and in navigation?

My Lords, the Canal & River Trust and the Environment Agency, the two principal navigation authorities, publish guidance on licensing and registration, and ownership is traced via these licensing and registration systems. Navigation authorities work hard to ensure that licence evasion rates are as low as possible and, although the Government do not get involved in operational matters, we encourage navigation authorities to work together to resolve these issues, including in conversations with Defra where relevant.

My Lords, are the Government aware of the recent operation by Bath & North East Somerset Council to remove five sunken boats from the River Avon, after unsuccessful efforts to get any owners to do so? There may be many good or bad reasons for the abandonment of boats, but does the Minister endorse that council’s advice for boat owners to use recognised sites, monitor their moorings regularly, and ensure boats are fit for the water and properly insured, inclusive of salvage?

The noble Lord raises an interesting case of some very positive enforcement action that was taken by the local authority that he named. We very encourage all navigation authorities to work with local stakeholders, communities and local authorities to do as much as they can to remove that blight. For noble Lords’ information, in 2024-25, the Canal & River Trust removed 12 abandoned derelict and sunken boats from its rivers, and 96 such boats from its canals. The average cost of removal was £7,000.

My Lords, can the Minister explain the best and most environmentally friendly way to dispose of boats, most of which are made from glass fibre these days? I suspect that many people, in extremis, set fire to them, which is not a good idea. Do the Government give any advice to help this process along?

My Lords, we leave such matters to the experts. My noble friend raises an interesting point, which I am sure navigation authorities consider. This is why it is important that the Government, while they are in close consultation with navigation authorities, do not step in on operational matters but ensure that navigation authorities are working with communities, stakeholders and—equally importantly—the owners to ensure safe disposal.

My Lords, the Broads Authority has had to spend £70,000 this year to raise two sunken boats in the Norfolk Broads. Will the Minister progress the recommendation in Defra’s Landscapes Review to remove the unnecessary complexities placed on the Broads Authority to account separately for income and expenditure from national park grant and from navigation, which would certainly enable the Broads Authority to undertake such work in a less complex way?

The right reverend Prelate raises an important point. All the navigation authorities have different set-ups, corporate structures and funding patterns. He raises the framework agreement; I will certainly take that issue back to colleagues in Defra to better understand the progress of that agreement.

My Lords, this is a very serious matter. I think of the history of the River Hull, for instance, where the dredging authorities, in order to keep the flows going and avoid flooding in irrigation, had great problems in being able to move sunken or half-sunken boats. Surely something more can be done to alleviate that problem, and in particular to put some speed into its alleviation?

At the risk of repetition, it has long been the convention to leave this to navigation authorities to manage best. They understand best their own waterways, rivers and canals, both urban and rural. I can tell the noble Lord that we have agreed a new 10-year grant of £400 million for the Canal & River Trust to extend the end of the current grant regime, which ends in 2027. This new settlement will go to 2037. We are ensuring stable funding for that body so that it can carry out all its functions and activities, including clearing up abandoned boats.

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, is participating remotely.

When Maidenhead had to deal with the problem of abandoned and sunken boats on the Thames, the local authority and the Environment Agency pleaded poverty, conflicting powers and confusion over responsibility. It took a local landowner to do the job of clearing the boats at his expense—so, free of charge. There is a lacuna in the law that needs sorting out. Will the Minister and his officials look at this whole issue of responsibility and perhaps come back to the House with, to be blunt, a better answer?

I will try my best again for my noble friend. He raises a specific case in Maidenhead; I will be honest with the House, I do not have the details of that case. He is absolutely right that we rely on our navigation authorities, local authorities, local landowners and the community to work together. It should not be up to just one landowner to do the right thing; we need everyone to work together. I will certainly undertake to examine the lacuna in law that he has identified; perhaps I can write to him with some more detail.

My Lords, abandoned and derelict vessels—that well-known acronym ADV, which I learned about yesterday—not only are unsightly and a blot on a landscape but cause terrible pollution from engine oils, diesel fuel leaking out, battery acid, and corroded metals and plastics. Ideally, the owners should be made to pay for their removal, but they are usually impossible to find, as the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, pointed out. I did not know about the Avon. Natural Resources Wales is paying for the removal of some boats in the River Dee, but I do not think we can ask the taxpayer to foot the bill in England. Therefore, I think for the first time in 40 years, I am in agreement with the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours. I suggest that Defra should convene a conference of local authorities, river estuary owners, the Canal & River Trust and any other relevant authorities and marine experts to see whether a way can be found to deal with this problem, making the owners pay and not the taxpayer. If there is a lacuna in the law, let us deal with it.

My Lords, I too have learnt some new acronyms this week and ADV is one of them, so I join the noble Lord in gaining that knowledge, and in understanding the importance of the fact that, as I continue to repeat to this House, navigational authorities are independent of government but are also responsible for enforcement action. The funding agreement that I mentioned with the Canal & Rivers Trust will have particular KPIs attached, such as enforcement and ensuring good, timely and responsible stewardship of the land in its control, whether in terms of clearing litter off the towpath or dealing with abandoned boats. Both are absolutely part of that. We believe in devolution and in making sure that bodies such as navigation authorities, which understand their patches best, can have control of them. We cannot have our cake and eat it and say there should be some national enforcement when we must support those navigation authorities on the ground to do the job right.