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  • 1 year ago
The club have had their access agreement with the landowner revoked, and for one man who lives on the site, he's worried that he will lose his home.

Finn Macdiarmid reports.

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00:00Bob is a grandfather, boat enthusiast and DIY expert, but most of all he enjoys solitude.
00:09He lives at the tip of the Swanscombe Peninsula at Broadness Cruising Club,
00:13but he might only have a month left of the life he's come to enjoy.
00:17Anyone that turned up at the gate to come down here, any of the members,
00:21they were given a bit of paper telling them that they've got no access now
00:29unless they want to pick something up, in which case they would have to be escorted down
00:34and escorted out by security.
00:36Whatever's left here will be considered abandoned and removed,
00:42and we'll get a £150,000 bill.
00:48It all started in mid-July when the members of the club noticed a fence being put up around the dock,
00:53along with a notice of access to the site being revoked.
00:56All because the owners of the site, Land Logical, said the area was dangerous.
01:01Now as you can see there's a lot of boats moored here at the site,
01:04and many are in fact owned by quite elderly members of the club,
01:07and for them it's becoming harder and harder for them to be able to actually fix their boats.
01:11The only way they can get access to the site is through a 20 minute walk,
01:15parts of which are particularly overgrown, making it practically impossible for them to come and fix their boats.
01:21Dave is one of those members and because of the revoked access has to make a longer walk up to the club to make his repairs,
01:28despite having two knee replacements.
01:30It's just got unbearable really. We have to walk down here. I've got like two knee replacements so I can't walk very far anyway.
01:41I'm lucky to be here today really. It's only because I'll get Bob to grab me down again.
01:52According to Land Logical, Swanscombe Development LLP has a duty of care to ensure the safety of all individuals accessing its sites.
01:59Following a detailed H&S review, access to the Broadness Cruising Club site on Swanscombe Peninsula was withdrawn on health and safety grounds.
02:07We recognise the long-standing presence of the Broadness Cruising Club, and in light of that history,
02:12we extended the original deadline for members to remove boats and personal belongings beyond August 31st as a gesture of goodwill.
02:19Despite this, many members feel as though they're in a catch-22, with the restricted access meaning it can be difficult to actually make any repairs or move the boats.
02:28I just don't understand it. I don't understand how people can come along and just wreck people's lives, and that's what they're doing.
02:37There's a lot of good people here, and there's a lot of older people, and it shattered them. It's absolutely shattering them. It really is. It's upsetting them.
02:45Many of the structures at the dock are handmade by the club, which has been there for 34 years,
02:50and the members say they want some kind of compromise or discussion before the door is closed on them forever.
02:56Finn McDermid for KMTV in Swanscombe.
02:59So what's up for doing to catch up here?
03:13What about you?
03:15Is there a lot of weapons that are not happening or anything like that?
03:19No.
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