COUNCIL bosses have been criticised for leaving boat owners in potential danger when the River Ouse floods.

Under present legislation, boat owners wishing to moor overnight in the basin at Castle Mills Lock in York require planning permission from City of York Council.

But the chairman of the Yorkshire Ouse section of the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) said he believed the council should waive this need for planning permission when river levels became dangerously high.

Tony Martin said the lock basin offered a much safer place to moor than on the River Ouse at Marygate, where only two weeks ago three couples were stranded for three days on their boats because the river rose so high.

Their boats had been tied to mooring rings in the wall, but a torrential downpour swelled the river so much, the rings became submerged in 14 feet of water.

“It is crazy,” said Mr Martin. “These guys were stranded in the middle of the Ouse waiting for the water level to drop, when they could have been moored safely in the basin.

“We think that under certain conditions the council should waive the need for planning permission to moor overnight in the basin in front of Castle Mills Lock.”

But Mike Tavenar, the council’s structure and drainage project manager, said they would not consider allowing boats to moor in the lock basin without planning permission because it wasn’t necessary.

“Even if moorings were established there, it is unlikely that boats would be any safer during high river levels as the water level fluctuates in the Foss Basin until the Foss Barrier is closed,” he said.

“The level in the River Ouse can fluctuate at any time of the year, but rises in level are slow and rarely exceed 150mm in an hour.

“The Environment Agency (EA) has a well-established procedure for issuing flood warnings and it is assumed that boat owners are competent and have made themselves conversant with the way the river reacts to rainfall, and the information that is available from the EA and British Waterways.”