[paul7collins]

i have been doing a study on the slipways but seen to be hitting my head on a brick wall ,I Would give in but the fact my grandad in his time whent to court as a fisherman with Jim Partridge to keep these open and they won the case.

[paul7collins]

Just had a letter published in the Shoreham Herald 2/7/2010 WE NEED TO GET TOGETHER OVER THIS AS BOAT OWNERS . Ropetackle is a no no as far as i am concerned, it is a public hard with 24 hour access but now it has been built on that has gone out the window , i have spoken to a few fishermen and boat owners who have attempted to launch there remember this is tidal and the residents have moaned at them because its a bit early , look the public hard was there first you knew that before you moved there , public hards cannot be closed down without an act of parliament,its a river for everybody to enjoy not made hard for people to stop using , its all down to bad planning really i noticed it when it was being built me and my brother made comments on it , and we where both right in the end,its a shame really shoreham is growing up to fast and not bothered about its own people . i lived and worked in and around Shoreham all my life , love the place born on Shoreham beach in 1957 , worked as a dockworker and a fisherman i am sorry to say it but Shoreham is changing to much and not for the good of the place either

[Nelson]

I'm not a boat owner Paul but am 100% behind you. These hards are an important part of Shoreham's working history and should be kept open. Look at the old maps of Shoreham and see how many have disappeared. I notice that the Shoreham Society seem to be effective in taking up cudgels in matters like this - it might be worth writing to them via their web site.

[richard]

paul7collins, on 05 July 2010 - 10:51 AM, said:

Just had a letter published in the Shoreham Herald 2/7/2010 WE NEED TO GET TOGETHER OVER THIS AS BOAT OWNERS .

See you got a somewhat sharp reply from the Ropetackle Residents Group Chairman!

[paul7collins]

Nelson, on 05 July 2010 - 18:24 PM, said:

I'm not a boat owner Paul but am 100% behind you. These hards are an important part of Shoreham's working history and should be kept open. Look at the old maps of Shoreham and see how many have disappeared. I notice that the Shoreham Society seem to be effective in taking up cudgels in matters like this - it might be worth writing to them via their web site.

sorry i did not reply mate have been away for a few days , have not seen this reply at the moment , was it in the Herald mate

[paul7collins]

Yes it was a sharp reply must of ruffled a few feathers , i cannot find a public slipway at the yacht club on shoreham beach i will look through my maps again ,The public hards by the old parcel force building are as much use as a chocolate fireguard , i also forgot to put in my letter that the parking bays are no use to boat owners with trailers the time limit on them 2 hours also is no good for fishermen , most of the boat owners i know move there cars and trailers and park by the Swiss cottage , you always get the odd couple that park anywhere that spoil it for other users , But i have with my son;s used it at 5 o clock one saturday morning as quiet as we where still got shouted at, because the river is tidal you are always going to have this problem ,most boat owners respect the fact that people are living there , the last time i went over there to see my son off the car spaces had been taken up but not by boat owners , I think they are use by the centre that is there , at the end of the day we just want to use the public hard and not lose it like what has happened in other places , perhaps we can ask the shoreham society for there help in this matter ,so Mr Robins all we want to do is use our public hard at the end of the day, My Grandfather thought hard to keep these open even went to crown court with Mr partridge , we have a duty to make sure this never happens , Mr Robins i will speak to people when i am down there about the parking , Richard will you look at your maps please i will go through mine mate but i am sure the yacht club is not public

[Nelson]

Haven't had the benefit of seeing the Herald article Paul but wonder if they are talking about the old Dolphin hard - packed tightly between the footbridge and the Yacht Club. If that's the one it's almost impossible to use as it has a short, right angled turn and is of course on a very busy road.
Sorry if I'm talking about the wrong hard.

[paul7collins]

It may well be that one mate but can you think of the the traffic jam trying to get your boat down there , There is another one between the yacht club and the old parcel force building , but again it will be chaos blocking the road of there to launch your boat. plus that its full of mud that has not been dug out for years , The next one after that is the surry Hard which again is full of mud , so i have not got a clue where he means , i have just looked on my map and still cannot see a public Hard on Shoreham yacht club ,how about you ,i think i will have a trip down the port office to have a look at there map , Afew years ago the council had plans to build one on adur rec by the train bridge , But after talking to boat owners i think it got thrown out because it was not the right place , tide to strong when it was going out ,

[Nelson]

I'm sure you will already have seen the Adur web site confirmation of current day hards but if not scroll down this page:-
http://www.adur.gov....r-adur.htm#map2

[paul7collins]

Not a lot of use most of them mate you would need a hovercraft ,i can see why most fisherman that want to launch there boats feel as if they are banging there heads against the wall , most of the ones the shoreham side of the river are to silted up , Stows yard slipway through the yacht club forget about that , i knew about that one anyway also it does not list a public Hard over at Shoreham yacht club , so the only usable ones are Emerald Quay and Ropetackle both very much tidal , Not very impressive for a Harbour such as ours with all its traditions is it , Also it will be interesting to see what happen to the slipways each side of the parcel force buildings will they disappear as well just like Humphreys gap ,there use to be one after White;s timber yard but that went years ago , if the port authority are going to develop i think they could put in a decent slipway for everybody to use . what i mean by develop more houses and luxury flats being built along the riverside not for port use . Sadly our once great port going back centuries is disappearing ,

[paul7collins]

I think its a case of me getting my camera out in the next couple of weeks ,Also Nelson both public hards each side of coronation green are totally unusable , can you imagine the chaos in the high street trying to reverse your boat onto them lol

[paul7collins]

Nelson first of all good response from people writing in to the Herald , i also found out today that the public hards on the town side of the river , where actually built for the crossing into the town of new Shoreham that was swept away when the river came in on its new coarse, of course nobody has bothered to clean them for years , I can remember as a young lad watching them with my grandfather who kept his boat at the surry hard scrape the mud of with diggers , thing is they are no good to man or beast in there present state , Not just that but if you look at all of them there is nowhere to launch safely , also as well i found out my grandfather went to Steyning court in the early 80s with another well known fishing and lifeboat crew the Page family to stop these hards from being closed , The understanding was whatever they took away they had to replace ,that is why they changed the road into ropetackle and blocked of Little high street with them stones in metal cages , not bad so far for half a days work feel as if i am getting somewhere my step dad is also very knowledgeable as well ,as he grew up Shoreham and worked as a dockworker almost all his working life , apart from his time in the navy . its about time this council started looking to help the water activities instead of build build build money money money at the end of the day we just need a decent public hard like ropetackle use to be where the boat users can launch park and retrieve without disturbing anybody ,i feel for years we had the perfect spot now it to has been taken away

[Nelson]

That's encouraging. I remember when the Ropetackle development plans were on the table the point was made that (apart from the universal dislike of the Art Centre design) although the hard was being left with just about enough room to manoeuvre a car and trailer there was little parking available - in fact there are a few (literally) pay & display spaces for the public butI think they are right up by the workshops under the viaduct. As you say, the developers wanted the maximum available space for building and it seems few were bothered about the inconvenieince to Shoreham boat owners.
You probably have a long and hard struggle on your hands but it sounds as if you are determined enough to succeed. Best of luck.
(Edit:- Now I think about it there are more on the west side of the latest block being built but they do look a bit temporary - we'll see.)

[paul7collins]

also in the herald this week is a chap called Brendan Whelan who is the secretary of the Solent and Arun inland waterways great letter he has put in there with an email address goes well back to 1999 well worth buying the paper tomorrow Nelson , plus there is another man Mike Wooldridge from the Shoreham slipways group , it needs somebody at the council to understand what is going on come out from behind there desk once in a while and take a look at the problems . Iam sure if they had somebody there that did we would not be in this situation we find ourselves in today , to many buildings crammed into a small space and the leisure side taken away , and boat owners ignored

[paul7collins]

I spoke to someone who is a member of the Shoreham yacht club ,and found out this is not a public slipway and you have to become a member to use it , So at the moment we are left with two slipways that are not alot of use to boat owners , Because they are built up area;s , you cannot possibly use them 24hours a day which is what a public hard is supposed to be there for ,Also the parking is not any good for boat owners on both slipways . Adur council and WSCC need to have a good look at this situation we boat owners find ourselves in ,perhaps we boat owners could have a meeting of some sort with the slipways committee and try to find away to solve this problem

[paul7collins]

Another letter published by the Shoreham Herald this week , i am making a few discrete inquiries here and there , cannot ever have enough information and other peoples knowledge , i do not know if mike Wooldridge of the Shoreham slipways group is a member of this fourum ,But it would be nice to meet up for a chat if possible ,

[paul7collins]

Hello Nelson just a quick up date for you ,Have spoken to a chap called Brendan Whelan secretary of the inland waterways association and a member of the Shoreham slipways group , we are arranging a meeting , also i have been out and about picking up more information , There is a public slipway at Sussex yacht club , but as you have to go through there land to access ,it because they have extended there ground along to it and also know where to park , and it looks like to me there is not a chance of using it , Why have they been aloud to get away with this , its all part of what use to be Stows yard , also i would like to know where they are building the new footbridge because of the public hard there , That is my job for tomorrow also i have to get a copy of the court papers from steyning from when my grandfather and the page family went to court a won there fight to keep the public hards open , so yes i am determined , some bloke came up to me today in the yacht club and asked me what i was doing , i said i had come to look at the public hard , there is not one in here he replied to which i said there is just there stows yard it is called ,Did not like me in there at all , lol

[Nelson]

Thanks for that Paul - you've got a fight on your hands but bringing in others on your side will help a lot - the powers that be take more notice of a group rather than an individual. The Yacht Club won't welcome your efforts and I would think that legally because they own the land they also own the access rights even though the last bit to get into the water is public. However, if you can involve the I.W.A and the slipways group you stand more chance - if what you say is correct (and I'm sure it is) then if access to the Yacht Club slipway isn't possible then surely Adur has to provide another in it's place (without using the excuse that already existing ones such as Ropetackle are the replacements.)
Keeping the situation aware to everyone through these posts and through other relelvant web sites will also help. your cause.

[paul7collins]

Things are moving on Nelson its hard work but i am up for it , i like a challenge i am of to the planning office today to look at the footbridge plans make sure we do not lose another public hard , Also the chap from WSCC use to launch his boat from ropetakle at last we have somebody that know;s about slipways , o well mate i bid you good day speak soon Paul

[Spinalman]

Go for it Paul.

Don't let anyone tell you "you can't go there!". Just answer "Prove it"