New plans for boathouse to hold vintage collection

A BOAT enthusiast has revised his plans to house a collection of vintage vessels in Henley after his first attempt was turned down.

Businessman Adam Toop bought a boatyard off Wargrave Road from Hobbs of Henley more than a year ago.

He wants to use the 0.5-hectare site to keep almost 40 restored Thames craft in the building.

He applied for permission to extend the ground and first floor and raise the roof.

But in December Wokingham Borough Council, the planning authority, rejected the application, saying the development would be “inappropriate” due to the boatyard’s position in the green belt.

Mr Toop, who is co-chairman of the Thames Traditional Boat Festival, which is held annually in Henley, said he was happy to make the necessary changes.

He said: “The site is tantamount to Chernobyl in terms of biodiversity — it has pretty ugly agricultural buildings, gravel and old deteriorating boats. It is a mess. The Environment Agency wants biodiversity gains. We have a revised flood risk assessment which would tangibly increase the flood storage capacity and therefore reduce the flood risk elsewhere.

“A preliminary ecological appraisal and proposed planting intent report confirms the revised scheme would result in a significant improvement from a habitat and biodiversity perspective.

“In addition to new hedgerow and tree planting, we have proposed a lowered revetment behind the proposed moorings where new wetland planting would be undertaken.

“We would also have planting with species native to the Upper Thames.”

The riverside elevation would be the same size and proportion to be in keeping with the height and scale of existing buildings on either side but there would be less glazing, with timber cladding being used instead.

Mr Toop said: “Although the workshop extension would marginally increase the footprint of development on the site, if approved, the total footprint of buildings would still be reduced relative to the footprint of buildings that existed before a fire in 2004.

“Moreover, the cumulative volume of the proposed ground floor and first floor extensions, as previously proposed, would increase the total volume of the building by just 11.7 per cent.

“All the changes we have made are responding on a point-by-point basis to the comments.

“If I was a developer wanting to build a massive country estate or a development for massive financial gain I would have expected to have gone through several rounds of planning but this is driven by passion and the improvement of a key sight line from the meadows and opening up the yard.

“If it has come down to these final boxes being ticked, we have ticked them.

“I quietly gathered all the people around me who helped on the original work and reshaped the documents to reflect what we have been asked for so we confidently go into the resubmission process knowing we have answered the questions that were raised.

“We would have made the changes earlier had we known but I have taken a calm, pragmatic and constructive position and hope we are now in a position where it can be approved.”

When the borough council refused the original plans, it said the proposal would have a “greater and detrimental” impact on the openness of the green belt and would result in a “prominent urbanising development”.

Remenham Parish Council encouraged Mr Toop to apply again after members complained about being “confused” by the borough council’s decision.

As part of the initial application, more than 120 letters of support were sent to the borough council.

A public consultation has been launched on the new plans, which ends on April 28.

• What do you think? Write to: Letters, Henley Standard, Caxton House, 1 Station Road, Henley or email letters@henleystandard.co.uk