A boater living at Bristol harbour has shared photos of their living conditions in response to the mayor's recent description of dock dwellers as the ‘privileged few’, alleging some were abusing the system to live cheaply in the city centre. Marvin Rees made the comments in defence of a controversial hike in permit fees for mooring in the city’s old docks, which have caused outrage among people who use boats on the harbour.
One resident told Bristol Live that although they have a leisure mooring, for the past decade they have stayed on the boat for more than the maximum 15 nights per year that the licence permits - without any issue. who The boater, who has asked to remain anonymous, said they would be happy to pay higher mooring fees in exchange for better facilities and services.
According to the mayor, out of the scores of people living in houseboats on the water, there are only eight boats with a residential licence, as there are just eight permanent moorings available. He has called those living in boats without paying council tax or without the right permits a ‘privileged few’, and said that the time has come for them to pay a fair amount in line with other cities in the UK.
Read more: What it's like living on a boat in Bristol as new harbour fees proposed
In response to what they described as the mayor's "incendiary remarks," a resident, who spends large parts of the year in Bristol, has shared images from inside their houseboat to contradict this. One image displays rows of stored bottled water, re-filled at their place of work. The resident claims that the tap along the quayside that is closest to their boat has been out of action since the extreme cold weather in December.
Another photo shows their mini-fridge with ice packs. The resident says that as their boat has no electrical hook-up, during the summer they need to buy ice regularly to keep their food cold.
They explained that they spend a lot of time doing repair work to keep their boat afloat and that simply performing the maintenance needed to comply with harbour standards would exceed the maximum number of days of residence. They said: "I spend probably half of the weekends in the summer working on the boat one way or another."
With fittings that are spartan rather than swanky, they have shared snaps of their well-used wood burner, used to heat the boat and their chemical toilet. The resident, who describes themself as a "typical boat owner", said: "Perhaps Marvin would be willing to publish some pictures of the inside of his house, if he's not too embarrassed, because if this is his idea of 'privilege,' then the poor man must really be struggling."
They added: "The word privileged is quite a loaded term isn't it, these days? I don't really think that's appropriate to use towards boat owners. I know people who live on boats all year round, and a lot of them don't really have steady incomes; a lot of them earn a living doing odd jobs, that sort of thing. So it's certainly not privileged."
They claim that they have had no direct contact from the harbour authorities about the proposed changes to their charges and only learned of the price increase from reading the Bristol Post. In response to Marvin Rees' comments, they said: "I've never paid council tax in relation to the boat for the simple reason that I've never been asked for any council tax.
"I have always paid my mooring fees promptly, and in full and, in principle, I'd be happy to pay higher mooring fees in exchange for better facilities and services. It would be nice if fees are going up in April to know a bit more about it so that we can budget accordingly."
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