Marine property to rent

Description
Berth holders currently use the farm car park, which lies just to the north of the mooring site. There are no permanent car parking rights, so the continuance of such arrangements cannot be guaranteed or facilitated by the Trust. The new, incoming tenant will need to make their own arrangements with the London Borough of Ealing, who we understand own both the farm and car park.

The moorings comprise a strip of land along the northern bank of the canal, approximately 135 metres in length, with land to the rear used for amenity and storage by berth holders. A small timber office/store at the eastern end of the site was used as a ticket office for a trip boat that previously visited the site. There are two further timber buildings along the bankside, each containing two small stores, designed to provide storage for the four residential moorings originally consented. These timber stores need repair or replacement. In practice, it appears that berth holders use their own storage cabinets or similar.

The incoming tenant should make a priority of tidying up each mooring site, ideally rationalising the storage provision to a single, good quality, storage cabinet or shed per berth.

The site was originally laid out with four residential berths, one leisure and the eastern-most berth was designated for trip boat use. In October 2021 planning consent was granted to change the leisure berth to a fifth residential mooring. The easternmost mooring remains allocated for trip boat use, although it has not been used as such for several years.

Location
The Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal runs for 14 miles, between Paddington Basin and Bulls Bridge Junction, Hayes, where it joins the Grand Union Canal mainline. The canal passes Little Venice, where it connects with the Regents Canal to create a waterway passing through much of North London.

Horsenden Farm is a community farm and nature reserve in Perivale, to the north of Greenford, owned by the London Borough of Ealing. The site borders the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, the canal and bankside are owned by Canal & River Trust.

Horsenden Farm lies to the east of Ballot Box Bridge, which carries Horsenden Lane North over the waterway. These moorings are on the northern, off-side of the canal. The opposite, towpath side has no permanent moorings, intended for short-stay and visitor use.

Viewings
On no account are interested parties to approach existing berth holders.
Please also respect berth holders’ privacy and only arrange to visit the site during normal working hours, and subject to Canal & River Trust consent.

For further details please contact the sole agents, Vail Williams LLP:
Ian Froome
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Terms
Rental offers are invited from prospective tenants wishing to take an over-riding lease of the site, indicative lease terms will be as follows:-

• Lease length: a term of up to 20 years
• Rent: offers are invited and Subject to Contract.
• The Trust’s preference is that the rent should be a percentage of the total annual revenue generated from mooring contracts.

Services
The site benefits from mains water and electricity supplies.

There is no mains drainage connection. The pump-out facility drains to a holding tank within the proposed lease area, with rights to access along the farm drive for servicing and emptying.

Statutory
The tenant will be responsible for maintenance of the services along the bankside, including electrical safety tests of service bollards. This will not cover any installations on individual boats, responsibility for which lies with the relevant boat owners.

The site contains several structures installed by berth holders and/or previous tenants. Canal & River Trust takes no responsibility for such structures, it will be incumbent upon the incoming tenant to ensure that they are compliant with statutory requirements, including asbestos regulations, building control and electrical regulations.

Planning
The site lies within the London Borough of Ealing. Planning consent was granted in March 2003 for mooring use, comprising four residential berths, one trip boat berth and one service/visitor berth. A later consent in October 2021 granted permission for a fifth residential mooring, in place of the service/visitor berth. The site therefore has current planning consent for 5 residential moorings and 1 trip boat mooring.

The trip boat mooring is currently little used, but provides capacity for boats to be moved to enable each vessel to visit the westernmost berth from time to time, as the existing pump-out facility is located there.

If the incoming tenant undertakes to replace the pump-out equipment with a system enabling vessels to pump-out from their own berths, then all six berths may become suitable for permanent mooring. However, whilst the existing pump-out equipment remains, a change to six residential moorings would not be supported by the Canal & River Trust.

Tenant Works
The incoming tenant will be required to undertake the following works within the first 18 months of the new lease commencement:

1. Undertake a thorough survey of the existing foul pump out system, design and implement any required improvements.
2. Re-lay the paving along the canal bank edge, which is now uneven, to make it suitable for continued use to access moored vessels.
3. Renew the timber boundary fencing along the northern edge of the site and reinstate the pedestrian access to the site from the main gate.
4. Rationalise and improve the existing storage arrangements within each mooring area, ideally limiting provision to one good quality store or shed on each berth.

The solution to item 1 above could include installing fixed pump-out ducting within the canal bank, to enable vessels to connect and pump out on their moorings, rather than moving to the pump-out station as at present.

The incoming tenant will be responsible for obtaining all necessary consents for the above work at their own cost, including (as required) planning consent, building regulations and Canal & River Trust consent for works alongside a waterway.

The tenant will be responsible for ensuring the moorings are suitable for use, including dredging the mooring area, if required.