Former bank manager moored barge on foreshore in Cornwall

Dean Richards was taken to court this week by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) and is also facing enforcement from Cornwall Council, as well as civil legal action by a second homeowner who has a property in the waterside village of Point, near Truro.

Dean says it feels like there’s a vendetta against him as he’s done everything required by law to anchor his barge, which he wants to live on with the eight-year-old son he co-parents.

“I get why they would have it in for me because I do look like an incompetent, law-flouting hippy, but I did 17 years in banking and was a bank manager,” said the exasperated boat owner, who has spent years researching marine rules and regulations in a bid to defend what he says is his legal right.

Dean, who works as a carer for adults with additional needs, says that both statutory bodies have made U-turns on legal requirements to moor his former Royal Navy munitions barge on land he bought in 2017, which includes the foreshore and the seabed on which the boat sits, extending halfway across the creek at Point.

Speaking in the run up to the court case, Dean said: “The MMO told me twice I did not require a marine licence to anchor my barge on my own land because anchoring is an exempt activity. They did a U-turn, moving the goal posts and I now face up to two years in prison as they are trying to prosecute me.”

His case was subsequently heard at Truro Crown Court on Thursday and Friday, with a jury finding him guilty.

You can read more about the judgement and sentencing here: 'Repeatedly misled' barge owner taken to court over its mooring found guilty

Dean, 43, added: “Cornwall Council got wind of my plans to moor my barge and decided to spend two years and an expensive court case claiming part of my land as well as three miles of seabed from the head of Restronguet Creek to Devoran.

“They spent so much of taxpayers’ money – they had a really good barrister, a land registry expert, they hired all these people to write these big reports about why their document superseded mine. Luckily I could blow them out the water as I had everything which pre-dated their documents. I won that case, but all that time I was paying to keep the barge 200 metres away at Penpol boatyard.”

Dean Richards on his barge at Point (Image: Lee Trewhela/LDRS) Dean was then told by the council that he needed planning permission to anchor his barge on his land. “I queried this as there are other vessels, barges included, anchored in the same area, some for over 20 years. They said if I did not like it I would need to apply for either planning permission or a lawful development certificate to prove the activity was legal. I did the latter and, after a fight and being fobbed off, finally was granted a certificate of lawfulness to moor boats on the foreshore.

“I moved my barge to my foreshore in 2022 and they have also done a U-turn and have served me with enforcement which I am currently appealing.”

It was then that his battle also started with the MMO, which he claimed initially told him he didn’t need a licence as anchoring on your own land is exempt. However, a year later the advice changed.

“I worked on a barge for a care charity and knew the procedure, so I queried it. They told me there was a new regulation and I needed a licence to drop my pin anchors [also known as spudlegs].

"I asked them for that new regulation and they couldn’t provide me with it. I applied for the licence which is supposed to take 12 weeks and it took 82 weeks to give me a decision and the decision was ‘no you can’t have a licence’ even though all their consultees including Cornwall Council eventually approved the barge coming here.

“The Environment Agency, Natural England, the Royal Yachting Association (RYA), Trinity House, Historic England – they all approved it coming here. The AONB (area of natural beauty) didn’t in fairness, but the boat had already been here for several years anyway. It was only a case of moving it 200 metres from the yard.

“I appealed the decision and it did not go my way. But since then it turns out that what they told me about a new regulation requiring spudlegs to be licensed was a complete lie. There is no such regulation. I now look like Public Enemy No 1 because as far as everyone is concerned I put it here illegally without a licence.

"However, their website still says I’m exempt when I go on to do a marine licence check!”

He has been fighting seven years for his barge (Image: Lee Trewhela/LDRS) Dean believes he is being punished despite doing things the ecologically sound way.

“The MMO’s offices are in Hayle – they’re faceless and they’re voiceless. There’s no dialogue to be had. They said if I just put a normal chain anchor here, then it wouldn’t need a licence. I queried that because the method I’ve used to moor is the most environmentally-friendly way.

“The muddy bed here is contaminated with mine waste including arsenic, so chain and anchor every time will disturb it and I don’t want to disturb it because it’s a precious area. My mum grew up on this road, my grandfather owned properties here and kept his boat on this creek. It’s dear to me despite some people around here thinking I don’t care.

“Natural England and the Environment Agency approve of my way of anchoring because it makes a disturbance on the day it’s deployed and the day it’s removed whereas any normal chain and anchor is disturbing it every single time. The MMO was put in a position to protect the marine environment and yet they’re coming for me for being environmentally friendly, which is odd.”

Dean mentioned a similar case in Bembridge on the Isle of Wight when the MMO investigated a houseboat community for using spudleg moorings. A local news site, the Island Echo, reported in 2020 that locals said they were accused of all sorts of “unlawfulness, skulduggery and mischief”. After the boat owners fought the investigation, the MMO decided not to take legal action.

He said: “Because there were around 100 of them, they all banded together and got a case. What I think’s happening is they’re going for me – one person who can’t afford to fight it – and they’ll get case law and precedent to then be able to take anyone anywhere in any gentrified area.

“This is an affluent area. I get they’ve paid seven figures for their house. I get what I look like [‘a hippy’ chimes in his friend] and I get this boat looks a mess because all my time, money and resources are going into fighting them as opposed to to going into making this look beautiful, which is what I want.”

Dean Richards on his barge which is moored on his own land on the foreshore at Point quay near Truro (Image: Lee Trewhela / LDRS)Dean added: “Cornwall Council has declared a climate emergency and this is the most sustainable way to live – I’ve got solar ready for the boat. It will be completely carbon neutral. In fact it will be carbon positive. I want to live on here until I pass on, then they can float it away and cut it up because it’s all recyclable. It’s completely sustainable. What house around here doesn’t leave a mark on the landscape? After two tides you wouldn’t even see that this has been on the seabed.”

It’s obvious how the stress of the situation has affected him. “I work 50 hours a week, but even doing that I can’t afford a two-bedroom flat. I co-parent my eight-year-old son and I want to provide a home for him. All my savings have gone into this boat. I can’t afford to walk away.

“This is my only choice now – I’m sleeping on a sofa at my parents’ house in Truro. The stress is huge as I’m having to represent myself in court because I can’t afford not to. This has taken its toll.”

His friend, who provided support for Dean during our interview as he was nervous about speaking out, chipped in: “Dean’s done ten years of research on all of this like a right swotty boffin and it feels like everyone is out of their depth, if you pardon the pun.”

Sitting in the bowels of his barge, Dean told me: “I’m beating my head against a brick wall because they’re still hellbent on taking me to court. The MMO invited me for an interview under caution, but I declined that because why should I be under caution like I’ve done something wrong? The next thing I knew, I had a court summons.”

Of the Truro Crown Court case, he said: “It’s scary and it’s all taxpayer-funded.” The offence is listed as “carrying out a licensable marine activity without a marine licence”. He argues that using pin anchors is an exempt activity.

On top of the action taken by the MMO and Cornwall Council, a second homeowner who has a property in Point is taking Dean to court for trespass and nuisance, which he believes is a way to seek an injunction to force him to move his barge as some in the area consider it an eyesore.

“There are some lovely, lovely people here. A couple of people have been critical but we’ve talked and they get it or agree to disagree, but there is a core of local residents who aren’t happy,” said Dean. “I get why they would have it in for me because I do look like an incompetent, law-flouting hippy, but I did 17 years in banking and was a bank manager. If you buy a waterside property, expect boats in front of your window.”

As I walked across the slipway and bid him farewell, Dean added: “Effectively these U-turns made by Cornwall Council and the MMO are simply a mechanism they are using to stop me keeping my barge on my own land. It sets a very dangerous precedent as if allowed they are actually removing my public right of navigation.

“On the Truro harbour website you will see they offer long-term lay-up of vessels in the same AONB as me; as long as you keep paying your boat can stay as long as you like. They are trying to remove this right, as foreshore owner, from me.”

The MMO said it couldn't comment on what was an active legal matter at the time.

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council said: “Planning decisions are made on the merits of each case, as a matter of fact and degree. Decisions may indeed vary if the facts of the development undertaken differ. There is a right of appeal, which in this case has been exercised, and the Planning Inspector will consider the facts of the case independently of both parties before making a decision.”