Since 1909, the River Thames downstream of Teddington has been controlled by the Port of London Authority (PLA), an opaque organisation with vast powers but very little accountability.
The PLA is now pushing to increase its powers further by means of a little-known legislative device called a Harbour Revision Order (HRO). This allows the PLA to change its governing legislation, the Port of London Authority Act 1968, without parliamentary approval. The PLA, as a Trust Port, is required to act for the benefit of all its stakeholders, which include liveaboard and leisure boaters, commercial boat owners, marine operators and waterside communities. Objectors say the proposed HRO stands to cause financial and other harms to many stakeholders, the vast majority of whom know nothing about the proposed changes.
Objectors are alarmed at the prospect of new powers for a regime so lacking in transparency. The PLA is not covered by the Freedom of Information Act and has no Ombudsman or independent regulator. It is not accountable to the Mayor of London or the Greater London Authority. Unlike Planning and Licensing authorities, the PLA makes its decisions behind closed doors. There is no public register of existing PLA River Works Licences for structures such as mooring jetties, and no published list of the related fees.
The PLA first submitted its proposed HRO in April 2020, following an initial consultation in 2019. But individual river users and boater organisations, including the NBTA, Residential Boat Owners Association (RBOA) and Inland Waterways Association (IWA), as well as riverside residents, community, and environmental groups, have refused to withdraw their objections. The HRO will now be examined by a Public Inquiry starting on 25th February 2025.
David Beaumont, of the Organisation of Port of London Authority Customers (OPLAC), said, “The PLA as it is now was created by its own Private Act of Parliament in 1968. Its 2025 HRO is a power grab, significantly increasing the legal privileges it arranged for itself in 1968 but this time without the inconvenience of having to go through Parliament. Sadly it is the sort of behaviour we have come to expect from a self-funded, self-serving QUANGO financed by its compulsory fees on river users. Fortunately enough people have objected to force this Public Inquiry about the HRO.”