Poole canoe club plans row a 'misunderstanding'

5:00pm Tuesday 28th August 2012 in Latest By Joanna Codd

REASSURANCE: Poole Harbour Canoe Club spokeswoman Sally Crawford outside the existing club hut in Hamworthy REASSURANCE: Poole Harbour Canoe Club spokeswoman Sally Crawford outside the existing club hut in Hamworthy

A HARBOURSIDE canoe club has reassured residents over its plans to lease an area of land in Hamworthy for a new boat store.

Poole Harbour Canoe Club has been promised a £50,000 grant from Sport England as part of the Olympic legacy if the scheme goes ahead near Lake Pier.

The club is matching the money with funds raised by members.

Club spokeswoman Sally Crawford stressed that the community club offered healthy organised activity for all ages and the disabled and pleaded for the proposal not to be defeated by misunderstandings.

“The hut will not be sited on the car park. The proposal is for the replacement hut to be placed on a small piece of land at the rear of the car park, which the club cleared under licence from Poole Council and in consultation with Natural England and local residents groups.”

She claimed that the land had been primarily used for fly-tipping, and that the club had paid for its removal.

“The club will not have any exclusivity over the beach or any other area, other than the hut and the area immediately in front, which will be covered by the proposed lease.”

She added: “The public will be able to go on using all the facilities and the area as they have done.”

She also said the club had an ecology survey done and that any further work would be carried out in consultation with Dorset County Council’s ecologist and Natural England.

“Once the new boat house is ready to move into, the club will remove the existing hut and container, including the foundations, enabling this part of the SSSI (site of special scientific interest) to go back to its natural form,” she said.

As reported by the Echo last week, campaigner Eddie Groves has collected more than 500 letters objecting to the scheme.

Comments(14)

paul.p says...
5:40pm Tue 28 Aug 12

I can understand the point of view from some objectors and from the boat club. Trying to balance ecology and usage of prime 'heath land' is very difficult.
I don't know how many members there are in the club but I've been there when the whole place was jam packed with tourists and the boat club. Generally peoplr with cars andboat/canoes take up a lot of space. Will there be a cap on member numbers?

What I'd mainly like to see is some work done to the path and slipway to the beach.

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steveatbournemouth says...
5:55pm Tue 28 Aug 12

I don't think it helps if people from Bournemouth get involved. Stay where you are in your own mess.

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N Smith says...
6:13pm Tue 28 Aug 12

What is wrong with some people , the canoe club is not harming anyone .Good to see the lake area used for a healthy sport for all ages .

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pete woodley says...
6:24pm Tue 28 Aug 12

Steve, the canoe club is for all the area and visitors not just poole and hamworthy,same as velodrome.and a lot of other facilities.

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angrymob1 says...
6:56pm Tue 28 Aug 12

What are the objections? I think it's very easy for people with too much time on their hands to present a very one sided view of things and persuade people to complain based upon that. The club is moving from one side of the carpark to the other, releasing the piece of land that they currently use. From what I can see this will mean that they interfere less with the public use of the carpark/toilets etc not more. What people forget is that people who belong to a club have an interest in making sure that they behave in a manner which is respectful to the sharing of that space with everybody else. It seems to me that a lot of this is based on the worst kind of NIMBYism!

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i have heard it all now says...
8:54pm Tue 28 Aug 12

Eddie Groves,get back up to Birmingham & sort out your back yard.

This a local club that keeps kids off the streets.

Live & let live.

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Jurasicle says...
9:49pm Tue 28 Aug 12

Some people just don't have much to do. A club that often clears the harbourside of rubbish and offers an interesting alternative to tearing the place up in motor boats and jetski.
Eddie the Brummy from Bournemouth, what a guy.
The jurasic coast would have several tons of plastic strewn all over if these guys n gals didn't paddle round every year on a womble.
They silently do good deeds while Eddie sits on his proverbial being a nasty busybody.

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gallantxxx says...
10:34pm Tue 28 Aug 12

I went there on a sunny day & the car park was overrun with the canoe club,

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pete woodley says...
10:42pm Tue 28 Aug 12

gallantxxx wrote:
I went there on a sunny day & the car park was overrun with the canoe club,
Did it harm you in any way ?.

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da200560 says...
11:20pm Tue 28 Aug 12

surely without this sort of initiative we would be up the creek without a paddle, simples inuit

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username for this site says...
8:30am Wed 29 Aug 12

Canoeing is a waste of effort and time

why not sit in the bath and stay at home

Oar is that too easy for you.

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Pablo23 says...
8:57am Wed 29 Aug 12

I can't see sanything wrong with this proposal.
A canoe club is a positive watersport which unlike many others is accessable to people of all financial backgrounds.

Those that are complaining with their minor quibbles stink somewhat of jealousy. I really don't see how this adversely affects anyone or anything.

Having said that, will the row of parking spaces infront of the new hut now be unusable?

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SteveStur says...
9:42pm Mon 3 Sep 12

I expect these objectors haven't read the plans. This is a sport that is good for the environment and good for everyone's health and won the UK gold medals a few weeks ago. Compared to the apartment developments around the harbour this is a minute development to replace a shed and a container box. Please can Mr Groves say what his hobbies are so we can see what the environmental impact of them is - we have a lower impact than anything other than walking and cycling, but I expect he objects to cyclists also.

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Hamworthy residnt says...
1:15pm Tue 4 Sep 12

gallantxxx wrote:
I went there on a sunny day & the car park was overrun with the canoe club,
How do you know who were canoe club members? The area is also used by other watersports organisations and kayakers who come to the beach and paddle on thier own.

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