An ex-bank manager is facing a two-year prison stint for mooring his 86ft barge on land that he owns.
Dean Richards, 43, has a court date with the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), after the body decided to prosecute him.
He has also been taken to court by Cornwall Council twice, and is facing legal action from a disgruntled local resident in Point, Cornwall.
Mr Richards says he has done everything by book and has not broken any laws. He intends to live on the barge with his 8-year-old son.
After buying the foreshore in 2017, he said he was told by MMO that he did not need a marine licence. However, that advice soon changed.
He told CornwallLive: “The MMO told me twice I did not require a marine licence to anchor my barge on my own land because anchoring is an exempt activity. They did a U-turn, moving the goal posts, and I now face up to two years in prison as they are trying to prosecute me.”
He is due in court on October 31 and November 1.
Speaking of Cornwall Council, which he has beaten in court twice, he said: “Cornwall Council got wind of my plans to moor my barge and decided to spend two years and an expensive court case claiming part of my land as well as three miles of seabed from the head of Restronguet Creek to Devoran.
“They spent so much of taxpayers’ money – they had a really good barrister, a land registry expert, they hired all these people to write these big reports about why their document superseded mine. Luckily I could blow them out the water as I had everything which pre-dated their documents. I won that case, but all that time I was paying to keep the barge 200 metres away at Penpol boatyard.”
Mr Richards was then told he needed planning permission to moor his boat on the land.
“I queried this as there are other vessels, barges included, anchored in the same area, some for over 20 years. They said if I did not like it I would need to apply for either planning permission or a lawful development certificate to prove the activity was legal. I did the latter and, after a fight and being fobbed off, finally was granted a certificate of lawfulness to moor boats on the foreshore.
“I moved my barge to my foreshore in 2022 and they have also done a U-turn and have served me with enforcement which I am currently appealing.”
It was at this stage that the MMO became involved. The body initially told him he didn’t need a marine licence to moor his boat, but a year later that advice was reversed.
“I worked on a barge for a care charity and knew the procedure, so I queried it. They told me there was a new regulation and I needed a licence to drop my pin anchors [also known as spudlegs]. I asked them for that new regulation and they couldn’t provide me with it. I applied for the licence which is supposed to take 12 weeks and it took 82 weeks to give me a decision and the decision was ‘no you can’t have a licence’ even though all their consultees including Cornwall Council eventually approved the barge coming here.
“The Environment Agency, Natural England, the Royal Yachting Association (RYA), Trinity House, Historic England – they all approved it coming here. The AONB (area of outstanding natural beauty) didn’t, in fairness, but the boat had already been here for several years anyway. It was only a case of moving it 200 metres from the yard.
“I appealed the decision and it did not go my way. But since then it turns out that what they told me about a new regulation requiring spudlegs to be licensed was a complete lie. There is no such regulation. I now look like Public Enemy No 1 because as far as everyone is concerned I put it here illegally without a licence.
“I’m looking at two years in prison for this now, because it’s a criminal offence to carry out a marine activity without a licence. However, their website still says I’m exempt when I go on to do a marine licence check.”
The MMO said it can’t comment on ongoing legal proceedings.
A spokesperson for Cornwall Council said: “Planning decisions are made on the merits of each case, as a matter of fact and degree. Decisions may indeed vary if the facts of the development undertaken differ. There is a right of appeal, which in this case has been exercised, and the Planning Inspector will consider the facts of the case independently of both parties before making a decision.”