“We’re all reeling at the moment,” says Alexandra Pringle, a long-term resident at the historic Thames houseboat moorings at Chelsea Reach. “There was this great groundswell of support for us, and the council were maintaining that those boats were quite wrong to be there, and contrary to planning permission. For it to go this way is frankly devastating.”
On 1 November, Alexandra and her neighbours at the moorings received some unexpected news: an enforcement notice made by Kensington and Chelsea council on two controversial “mega-boats” on the moorings had been overturned by the Planning Inspectorate. This meant that the boats, which had been staunchly opposed by residents, local councillors and community groups, would be allowed to remain.
