Concerns voiced against Thames party boat near London Bridge

By Charlie Parry

Residents have given a resounding NO to plans that would allow a party boat the size of a football pitch to dock on the Thames.

Events company Ocean Diva is hoping to bring one of its deluxe floating entertainment centres to the unused Swan Lane Pier in London Bridge.

Plans to revive and privatise the pier so that the party barge can dock at the river are soon to be heard by the City of London Corporation, although no date has been set.

But Living Bankside, a community group representing 25,000 riverside residents, is demanding that the plans be refused.

They say that not only will the boat cause air and noise pollution, and litter the riverside with partygoers into the early hours, but also that the plans go against City of London policy commitments.

The group has put together a template objection letter for people to send to the City of London, highlighting 10 reasons why the plans should be rejected.

“Most importantly,” they write, “this new iteration does not mitigate any of the issues flagged when the Mayor called in the project.

“With their many pages of inconsistent reports, their unsafe baseline projections and their rose-tinted scenarios, the applicants have failed to adequately address GLA report of 1.7.19 in terms of crowd management, highways, environmental, noise and amenity impacts.”

A petition against the Ocean Diva, which almost 700 people have signed, can be found here.