Shrewsbury school's pontoon bid for river is refused

The school had applied to Shrewsbury Town Council for access to the river to launch canoes and boats, but its Recreation and Leisure Committee rejected the application at a meeting on Wednesday.

Councillor Jon Tandy said the council's officers had expressed concerns over the impact of a pontoon on the riverbank.

He said: "The committee members were not happy with it on a number of points. One was the erosion of the bank itself, our officers thought it would have to be anchored and it would be difficult to do.

"At the same time they were also worried about the dangers of people using the pontoon – people jumping off the bridge and getting onto the pontoon. We did not think it would be beneficial."

Councillor Tandy said that the committee had suggested that the school could use Pengwern Boat Club's pontoon rather than building a new one. In the proposal submitted to the council, the high school, which is located on the banks of the River Severn, said: "The location is ideal to be able to offer rowing as part of the curriculum and extra-curricular activities.

"Currently the school has no means of launching rowing boats from the school and wishes to create safe access to the water. It is proposed to do this by installation of a simple pontoon."

It added: "Use of the pontoon would be for use of the school and controlled community use by appropriate groups.

"Use would be strictly controlled and always be under the supervision of qualified instructors with appropriate risk assessment and method statements in place.

"There would be no access or use by the general public or private individuals."

The application suggested that the pontoon would be designed to prevent erosion to the river bank and that it would be built from ready-made polyethylene cubes.

Shrewsbury High School addressed the issue of safety in its submission and said that the pontoon would be secured by locked gates.

The application stated: "It is proposed to prevent unauthorised access by fencing the pontoon and providing locked gates. Signage would clearly show that the pontoon is for private use only and warn of the dangers of unauthorised use. Depending on the final design consideration may also be given to gang plank access."