Your article (“Fears as boat owners’ group claims new area of riverbank”, September 9) about the attempts by the “Communities Land and Boat Organisation” to claim land in West Oxford for moorings highlights the desperate need for suitable mooring sites for residential boats.

Oxford is now the least affordable city in the country and the growing housing crisis needs to be tackled. Narrow boats can cost as little as £10,000 to buy and are often the only affordable option left for workers in Oxford, yet the city council leadership voted down a Green proposal to include boats in their 2012-15 Housing Strategy.

Oxford Mail:

People living in Abbey Road, near Botley Road, say they have had leaflets claiming that the land is unregistered and therefore open for boaters to create mooring points. Residents, from left, Sue Spencer-Longhurst, Derek Burnes, Julian Lavey and Christopher Gasson holding one of the leaflets pushed through letterboxes

With rivers and a canal in the city the council should copy our twinning partners in Leiden and use some of the funds allocated to buy social housing in Oxford to provide homes for affordable rent, whilst working with other authorities to provide residential moorings for both social rented and private boats.

Sadly, despite a housing crisis that goes back over 10 years the city council political leadership still seem blindly wedded to allowing the economic market to dictate what type of housing goes where.

Until they take a more interventionist approach, and until they stop demonising boaters, groups like this one will continue to take drastic action in order to protect their homes.

Cllr Elise Benjamin

Green Party

Oxford

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